The Ensnarement of Dimensions
by Cyndaquil123
Summary: Here we have another pokemon/kingdom hearts fanfic that floats around in the thousands that already exist. This particular one is about three pokemon. Keldeo, Vulpix, and Sneasel. The world that they live in is different from the games and the show. It is also falling apart. So join them in their adventure as they try to save their world, and survive the horrors that they may see.
1. Chapter 1

The Ensnarement of the Dimensions chapter 1

Ok this story is written by three authors, Gamemaniac, Darkfoxkit, and I.

Gamemaniac has written The Path to Aura and Darkfoxkit has written The Child of Mew

Now, all you authors that deem yourself acceptable can write a one-shot

to me that is placed within the story, but not in the storyline. If I like the one-shot enough I will put it in the story and answer one of their questions about the story.

I present to you now, the first chapter, written by GameManiac!

The mind. What exactly about it makes it so special to those that have one?

Well, with the mind, virtually every individual that has one can think for themselves. They can act on their own, by themselves, and make choices based on what comes their way. With the mind, one can take in their environment and comprehend it to its fullest. With the mind, one can record their experiences and bring it back to light at any other point in time, easily so if the memory is impactful, but not so if the memory is overlooked. And with the mind, everybody who has one has their own identity, their means of making themselves known to others who also have minds.

And all of this is possible by what our mind allows us to understand.

But there's much more to the mind that what we're able to assimilate from our outside sources, and from what we can discern upon first glance.

For example, what occurs within the mind that _allows_ us to be conscious of all of this?

Experts on the workings of the mind say that it is because of various chemicals, alongside neurons and synapses that interweave with our very bodies, influencing our ability to move and interact in the world with the five default senses of sight, hearing, smell, touch, and taste, in ways that seem limitless and eternally open for experimentation and discovery.

But that's only the shallow surface of the mind, the surface that it's pink, jelly-like structure presents itself to us, when your skull is cracked open.

The bigger question is what occurs _deep_ within the mind that makes us who we are. What resides past the fleshy material that distinguishes us?

Or in my case, what makes me _question_ who I am.

While this may not be the key to my question, it's certainly the door that is leading me in the right track.

And this door, that I'm describing to you, exists in the form of a dream.

Let me make it known to you.

A bright sunny day, without a cloud in sight, shines down on a human metropolis of tremendous scale. The hundreds of skyscrapers that line virtually every segment of this urban jungle create large shadows that overlap other, smaller buildings that didn't share in the scale of their kin. And surrounding this city almost entirely around itself, was nothing but a body of water, one that easily requires bridges and boats to trek through.

But despite the ability of this man-made municipality to house millions upon millions of human beings and Pokémon alike, there was not a soul in sight, for as far as my eyes can see.

So it goes without saying that me, just a little pony-like Pokémon by the name of Keldeo, clopped and trotted through these concrete streets for miles on end, with nary a being to accompany me as I did so. All that I had to occupy me was my ability to recall where I've been and what I've seen.

…Though, I'm not exactly one of the smartest of Pokémon. That being said, I'm no Slowpoke or Quagsire when it comes to brainpower. But then again, I'm certainly no Metagross or even Mewtwo. I'm more along the lines somewhere between both. Maybe a bit higher up in that scale even? I would believe so.

But I digress. What I was saying earlier is that, within this city in a dream, I walked about for as long as I felt like. And even though I remembered where I was going and where I've been before, just taking in the sheer scale of this city—one that must've required hundreds of thousands of humans and Pokémon, alongside millions of hours of laborious and potentially dangerous work—can make just about overwhelm the sense of direction of _anyone_.

Heh… I almost said "anypony" there. I don't know why. Maybe it's because I am one? Or maybe it's something else?

…Sorry, I'm digressing again. What I was saying _that_ time is that this city is just too grand in scale, my little Pokémon body is but a speck of dust to this place, and I'm cognitively unable to take in every single detail about it.

Ha hah… My little Pokémon body… My little _pony_ body…

*Ahem* Sorry, sorry again.

Where was I? Oh right. I was saying how insignificant I am compared to this city.

So, as I trotted about through the fraction of streets and alleys, around the few buildings that I would pass by, I would barely be the wiser on where I've been and what I've seen. All of these buildings look the same to me. They cast their large shadows on me when they blocked the sunlight throughout my path, they were all gray, and they were all devoid of anything inside of them, when I felt like looking into each building in broader detail.

Whether there was any genuine progress to be made in this labyrinth of a metropolis or not was out of my understanding. Because, when I so much as travel into a few buildings and inspect them from ceiling to floor, I would wake up.

My eyes would open and I would awake to see that I was back in my own little room.

My home, strange as it may seem, resides in the Moor of Icirrus, where I was first born…and where I had lost my parents to a fire that once ran rampant across this place, the result of which came from a war that broke out between mankind and Poké-mankind.

…Don't get me wrong here. When I say "lost", I don't necessarily mean that my parents perished in the fire. Or _did_ they? Did they? I don't really know, I was just a young colt back then…er, _younger_ colt back then. I barely learned how to walk when that war occurred. All I know is that I lost my parents that day, either from the fire, from them being fallen by the results of the war, or by being separated from them.

I don't really remember it that well. It's all just a blur to me, because I was so young and infantile back then. All that I remember about that event, after the war in the Moor of Icirrus, is that when I wasn't with my parents, I was alone for quite some time. I don't remember how long _exactly_, but I know it was long enough for me to show near fatal signs of starvation.

I probably would've died from that, by starving to death. There was no question about that. I didn't know how to fight or forage for food at the time, because I wasn't taught how to yet.

But I'm alive today because of my three _adoptive_ parents, as I've been referring to them when I first saw them and learned to speak and address them as such. They took me in under their wings…er, hooves…and taught me everything that they knew, and helped me in learning things that only I knew. I've grown strong under their teachings, physically from their exercises and emotionally from our formed bonds.

A testament to those bonds of ours would be when I was learning to be a Sword of Justice, which involved Kyurem, my Resolute Form, and a boy named Ash Ketchum.

…I'm digressing again. I should be getting back up instead of reviewing my thoughts.

I did so. I stood up from my grassy bed and stretched my legs and back a bit, to loosen myself up after sleeping so soundly. And once I did so, I inspected one of the nearby patches of dirt and put my hoof down on it, leaving a mark on it.

Why did I do this? Well, it's because of that dream I had. It's actually not the _first_ time I've had it before. I've been having it replay in my sleep at least a few times every week. And every time I had this recurring dream, I took it upon myself to mark it by putting my hoof down on a patch of dirt.

Though, I didn't do so when I first had this dream. I only did so when I this dream repeated itself a few more times later on in my sleep. I left tally marks via hoof prints of it to me because I feel as though there might be some significance to this nighttime reverie.

So, once I left another mark in the dirt, I inspected my hoof mark on the dirt, and looked at the others that were nearby it. How many imprints are here now? I've lost track as the weeks went by.

I think it may be past a _hundred_ at this point, but I didn't have the time right now to count them all. I have other business to attend to. Business that I'm sharing with my family, the other Swords of Justice, involving teaching some new recruits how to become _new_ Swords of Justice.

A bathroom break, some Berries and nearby hay for breakfast, as well as a refreshing drink of water and a quick bath by the lake, and I was ready for the day.

I made my way over to an open field in the Moor of Icirrus, where Cobalion, Terrakion, Virizion, and I all agreed we'd be using as a satisfactory training ground for the Pokémon that wanted to learn from us and become Swords of Justice themselves. We selected this area because there would be enough space to set up plenty of practice boulders and fallen tree trunks—which we had set up beforehand, just the four of us.

And right off the Zubat (bad pun, I know…), I could see my comrades standing relatively close together, observing the few dozen or so Pokémon that were learning how to use SACRED SWORD, attempting the technique, and practicing using it on their makeshift targets. Alongside this, the Swords of Justice were giving pointers to these trainees.

…In their own distinct ways.

"Hone your blades, ladies and gentleman!" Cobalion commanded to these Pokémon. "Visualize your opponent's vital organs through their hides, and imagine piercing them in two with each thrust of your swords!"

"Keep a firm hold of your blade!" Terrakion's voice followed, almost rumbling the earth itself in the process. "Drive it down on your target as though it were a bolt of lightning!"

"Keep a sharp form all throughout your swings!" Virizion added after both of them, sounding somewhat gentler than them but by no means less transparent. "These targets may not be able to defend themselves, but imagine them trying to strike back at you with just as much fire!"

From my current position nearby this activity, I could see the Pokémon listening to their diverse forms of advice and motivation and taking them deeply into account, in order to master the use of SACRED SWORD.

But unsurprisingly, from what I was visualizing with these Pokémon, their use of SACRED SWORD was, on average, _pitiful_. I saw that some Pokémon were struggling in getting the shape of their energy-based blades right, while others were only getting a rough shape on it. Some Pokémon that had enough of a sword-like shape to their SACRED SWORD either swung it and had it shatter from the force of impact, or not even make it past of the surface of their targets.

And then, for some reason, there was only one Pokémon—an unnaturally tall and dark-furred Lucario—that just stood there, facing its boulder target, and did nothing.

This shouldn't be surprising to any of us four Swords of Justice. SACRED SWORD is a technique that, for the most part, is our own. So, for it to be taught to a different Pokémon is quite the tall order. Maybe we'd have better luck in teaching a Grumpig how to fly.

Of course, that's not stopping them from trying, because it _can_ be done. It just takes patience and practice to teach a Pokémon a move that's a bit out of their norm.

I decided to step forward and join my clique, when they were eyeing their greenhorns.

And then, when they weren't expecting me, I got their attention.

"Hello, you three." I said eagerly. "Did I miss anything?"

Already, all three of my parents turned their attention towards me and had smiles on their welcoming faces.

"Ah, Keldeo," Cobalion responded first to me. "Good to see you up and awake."

"Did you sleep well?" Terrakion followed after. "Or was it the _usual_ again?"

"Uh…" I knew Terrakion had me pegged when it came to that again. "Yeah…I had that same dream again."

"How many times does that make it now?" Virizion questioned me.

I just shook my head at her when I was thinking the answer over. "It's probably been at least a hundred times at this point, but I can't say for certain. I honestly have lost track of how many times I've had to soil my hooves in that patch of dirt, just to keep track of that recurring fantasy."

"There must be a reason for that to you," Cobalion assumed. "But unfortunately, we don't know what this reason is supposed to be. It's just as enigmatic as that particular dream you have recurring almost every night."

As much as I would love to trek down this rut of a topic once again, I really wouldn't want to. And by that, I mean I would _hate_ to, because it would get us nowhere and would just waste our time.

And at this particular moment in time, it wasn't in our best interests to waste time, not when we have this many Pokémon in attendance to learn from us and want to follow in our footsteps as Swords of Justice.

So, with better interests in mind, I decided to change the subject.

"I don't want to talk about it right now. Maybe later." I said, before turning my attention over towards our "class", but most notably that one particular Lucario that was _still_ standing idle and doing nothing. "Right now, we should just remain focused on our students, particularly _that_ one."

My fellow instructors noted where my eyes were trained on and looked that way as well. They saw the individual that I was seeing, the one that remained as still as stone, barely showing signs of breathing and wasn't even trying to strike the boulder like the other student Pokémon.

"Has that Pokémon _always_ been standing still like that?"

"Sure, but it's not as obvious as you might think." Terrakion responded.

"Just like with all of the Pokémon already practicing away at their makeshift targets," Virizion chimed in. "We've accurately explained to them the requirements to learn SACRED SWORD."

"A stalwart sense of justice given graspable form and molded into a decisive edge of non-discriminatory judgment." Cobalion added, almost poetically.

Still, just looking at that Lucario gives me the nagging feeling (Get it? Nagging… It's funny because I'm a pony Pokémon) that it's taking our teaching and not giving a buck about them (Get it? Buck… I said it instead of fu—I'll just stop with the bad horse puns now…).

"Mind if I go have a word with it?" I said, narrowing my eyes at that Lucario ever so slightly.

"We won't stop you." Cobalion spoke for the three of them.

"Alright, thanks." I said, only briefly glancing over to them, before my gait carried me over from here.

As I made my way over towards this midnight blue statue of a Pokémon, it still showed no signs of moving at all, even when I had placed myself within kicking distance of it and was standing right in front of it. It barely breathed in and out, and still had its eyes firmly closed, its head tilted down, and the individual digits of its paws placed together.

"Hello? Are you in there?" I asked the Lucario.

"…" No response, of course.

This time, I balanced myself on my hind legs to reach this Pokémon surprisingly _elevated_ level of height. And when I was on two legs, I waved a right hoof across this Pokémon's countenance, back and forth, like a leaf in the wind.

"Wake up, sleepyhead." I practically spoke directly to its face.

Just as I did so, I got a response from this Aura Pokémon. Though it wasn't exactly a favorable one. It was more of a…surprise.

The Lucario's eyes suddenly opened wide, and made themselves apparent to me that they were a sharp sanguine in color. But then that color changed from red to gold, and appeared to stare right into my soul.

Unsurprisingly, the surprise from this caused me to lose my balance on my two hind hooves and then fall right on my ass (Get it? Ass… It's funny because… I'll just stop).

With this Lucario now made clear to me that it was awake and alert, it displayed superb agility—which its species is quite famous for actually—by jumping right over me, high into the air, and towards the boulder that it was facing in the first place.

And while it was in mid-air, I was able to see it front flip in the air a couple of times, before outstretching its left paw and focusing its innate aura to it. And right then and there, its aura elongated and formed the unmistakable shape of a SACRED SWORD blade, just before the Aura Pokémon brought it down on the boulder it was aiming for.

And with one mighty slash down, thanks to both gravity and its arm strength, this Lucario managed to do what every other Pokémon training with us Swords of Justice struggled to do, and that was cut their training obstacle down to size.

In short, this Lucario cut that boulder down in half, right down the middle, in one clean cut. And alongside this, it wasn't an understatement to say that _everybody_ within the vicinity was surprised at this. Why? Because this Pokémon not only got the form and power of SACRED SWORD down to perfection, but in just _one_ go as well, right after hearing the explanation in attempting this technique from its teachers.

Before I can get up though, this bizarre Lucario then made a mad dash over towards me in a heartbeat with its EXTREMESPEED, and held its SACRED SWORD technique right by my bulbous nose.

If this Lucario had just been a bit slower in doing this motion onto me, then my comrades would've retaliated against this Pokémon in a heartbeat. But because this Lucario did so faster than we can _blink_, and then _stopped_ right there in its tracks, with its blade stopped inches away from cutting a third nostril into me (or potentially worse), we only had enough time to make sense of this.

And then this Lucario said something to me telepathically, with its golden glare still staring deeply into me, almost malevolently.

"_Has anyone ever told you…that you shouldn't disturb an individual who is meditating?_" It told me somberly, as though my acts of getting its attention annoyed it. "_It's about as outright foolish as awakening a Snorlax lying asleep in the middle of the road. Just stirring it from its sleep is enough for it to lash back in a grumpy rage._"

When it finished saying that to me, the SACRED SWORD blade it had drawn on me and over my nose dissipated, alongside its golden glare on me, with its eyes returning to their normal red, all probably though its own doing.

And when it did so, I rolled off of my back and onto my feet, but I never looked away from this Pokémon in the process.

Why? Because of the _nerve_ of it! It called me "foolish" just now, for what I tried doing to it earlier.

"_I know you are the fourth Sword of Justice, and arguably the most powerful of the four,_" this Lucario continued speaking. "_But the absolute _least_ you could do is display your title properly, by thinking these sort of things through and assessing those situations more broadly._"

...To hell with "holding my horses"! This Pokémon's asking for a "corrective lesson" now.

I galloped towards this Lucario and aimed my horn out to it, attempting to strike it in one blow.

But when I felt as though I would make contact with it, the unthinkable happened.

This Lucario just warped away from my strike path, and reappeared by my left side. It took me a second or two to comprehend what it just did right now, and then I realized it. But when I did, it was just plain perplexing.

"Did you just…TELEPORT?" I said when I locked eyes with it once more.

"_Stop that,_" it said once more, calmly this time and without any hostile intent directed towards me. "_I don't wish to fight you, and if I sounded as though I was insulting you, I apologize. I was only meaning to convey to you where you went wrong and what you need to learn from this._"

Apologetic or not, I still found myself offended by this Lucario's words and actions earlier. But after hearing that, I didn't attempt to attack it once again. That being said, I was still feeling a little cocky.

"You don't wish to fight me? Why's that?" I questioned it. "Are you afraid that I'll defeat you or something?"

Calmly, this Lucario merely shook its head to me. "_No. It's actually the contrary. I would probably defeat _you_, though it might take a while if we locked horns and actually clashed._"

This Pokémon still has quite the nerve to it, to say something like that so easily to me and expect it to be the truth. I would've said something otherwise to it, but just looking at his face told me all of the information that I needed to know. And not all of that information was something that I would enjoy.

This Aura Pokémon wasn't acting arrogant against me. Not in the least. It was quite confident in its abilities and didn't doubt itself when it said that it could defeat me in battle. And the way it said them to me was as though its words were cemented into stone, as fact. I could've said something otherwise, but then there was that TELEPORT move that it did to avoid me.

No Lucario _alive_—at least from my understanding and that of my family—can do what this Lucario just did right in front of me. And what's to say that TELEPORT isn't the _only_ move in its repertoire. There might be more that this Pokémon knows. It might know moves that its species can't ever hope to learn. After all, it picked up on SACRED SWORD _on the first try_. And if learning such a cliquey move was effortless in its part, well then it wouldn't be an understatement to say that about any other moves it likely knows.

"Who areyou, what are you, and why are you here?" I asked it, wanting to learn more about this sapphire-colored enigma.

This Lucario's face didn't show signs of apprehension to my prodding questions, and it appeared more than willing to tell me about itself.

"_I am Xeno Lucario, a Pokémon once shackled under the tyrant criminal organization Team Rocket. I'm here to grow stronger, to learn a few new tricks, so that I can further strengthen my friends as we help release the Pokémon that we liberated when we escaped from that death trap._"

"…" That…wasn't the answer I was expecting to hear from this "Xeno Lucario". Safe to say, I was rendered speechless by this Pokémon.

Thankfully for me, when I looked over to my side, I could see my fellow three Swords of Justice proceed forward alongside me, to continue speaking while I was trying to make sense of what just heard.

"Did you just say you're _Xeno_ Lucario?" Cobalion said curiously.

"_Yes I am, sir._" Xeno said before paying his respects to the three of them by bowing down slightly to them.

"I can't believe we didn't recognize you earlier!" Terrakion practically shouted ecstatically. "You're _the _Xeno Lucario! Just your distinct physical stature should've given it away to us!"

"Your name has been buzzing around all across the world." Virizion stated. "They all tell of you and your Team Liberator friends, how you risked your very life to help hundreds of Pokémon escape Team Rocket's clutches and live their lives anew."

It was at this point that the gears within my head began to move against each other, and the pieces began to fall into place. This Pokémon right here is in fact Xeno Lucario, and we didn't notice that until just now.

And it wasn't just us four Swords of Justice either. To the other few dozen Pokémon that were here in attendance with us and learning from us, they heard this Lucario's distinguishable name and immediately stopped what they were doing. Then, they practically formed a circle all around the five of us, clamoring amongst themselves about this noble Lucario, recalling what they already knew about it, what it's accomplished, and what it's doing presently.

All of this attention directed to Xeno, when I noticed it across its face, made it grow somewhat bashful. And if it wasn't for the fur lining Xeno's face, I swear I would see him blush red all around.

"_Am I really that well known?_" It said meekly. "_I've been doing a lot of traveling over the years, so I haven't truly noticed._"

"You're well known because of the selfless actions you took during your imprisonment." Cobalion clarified. "Time and time again, word would get around about the Pokémon that you and your little group helped free from Team Rocket. They would say how their lives have changed for the better, now that they are no longer slaves to that demon in the orange suit. Hell, you're practically a Sword of Justice by your actions alone."

The praise Xeno was getting, even though it was much deserved to it, was distracting the Aura Pokémon, and it wished to change the subject.

"_Can we just…proceed with our training alongside you?_" Xeno suggested. "_Any other day and I would be more than welcome to hear what you think about me and my accomplishments. But all of us here wish to learn from the four of you, and it's just wasteful to dedicate valuable class time in simply paying attention to my personal life._"

Cobalion, Terrakion, and Virizion all thought Xeno's words over and eventually realized that the Aura Pokémon was correct.

"…Fair enough." Cobalion agreed.

"We don't have all day today anyway." Terrakion noted.

"We have a regimen to keep, after all." Virizion pointed out.

Before I knew it, my three parents suddenly turned their attention towards me, alongside that of every student Pokémon present and accounted for.

"…What?" I said, before recalling what we had already agreed on beforehand relating to our planned training regimen. "Oh, right! I say what's next."

Taking the torch in leading these Pokémon, I stepped forward and gave them their next instructions.

"*Ahem*" I cleared my throat and made myself audibly present to them. "For a slight change of pace to your current exercise, I'd say that it's time for an _actual_ exercise." I said before turning my head over towards the broad hillside that resided a couple of dozen miles away from here, further north from the Moor of Icirrus. "To help build up our stamina, let's jog over towards those hills. That shouldn't be too hard for any of you students."

As though my word was law, we all began our conjoined march over towards my targeted destination.

About an hour or so of time went by until all of us in attendance today successfully ran over towards the beginning of that hillside that I mentioned. And once there, we all just continued running, to help further build ourselves through prolonged and rigorous exercise.

All of the Pokémon present here found their comfort zones as they were running, and steadily rising up and down across the grooved landscape of the Moor of Icirrus. We all found ourselves placed in certain order positions as we all jogged well past the morning and into the early afternoon.

Unsurprisingly, the four of us Swords of Justice were placed in the front of the pack. And at the same time, we were looking back every once in a while to see that our students were within hearing distance of us.

They all were able to keep up with us. Most of the Pokémon in attendance, from what I can tell through their faces, found this run invigorating. Others questioned its worth and appeared to mull it over to themselves. Nevertheless, nobody was complaining about this midday work out, and that was good enough for me.

When I was looking back, I also noticed that Xeno was keeping pace with us. But for some reason, it remained at the far back of the pack. Why exactly? I'm not entirely sure. I seriously doubt it's because Xeno's out of shape, lazy, or a slow runner. And I highly doubt that extra two feet in height that it has, when compared to its fellow species, is a hindrance to its running stride.

Perhaps is a selfless reason, one that has become a habit to it. Or perhaps it's, simply put, a reason that it knows that I don't.

That it knows that I don't…

That it knows…that I don't…

…I wonder. Is it possible that Xeno knows something about the recurring dreams that I've been having for some time now, something new and different from the information hole that Cobalion, Terrakion, Virizion, and I have dug ourselves into?

If it does or it does _not_ know anything about my issue, then there's only one surefire way to know. And that's to simply ask it.

So, with that in mind, I slowed my running pace so that I would deliberately fall further back in the pack. And naturally, because I was slowing down, I was getting a bit of attention from everybody who was able to see me off of the corners of their eyes. They wondered why I was deliberately slowing down, but didn't bother thinking about it too much, on the off chance that I feel like channeling my inner drill sergeant at them.

In the end, when I was backing up, only Xeno was left looking at me and wondering why. And when I was by its left side, Xeno's curiosity already began to target me.

"_Can I help you?_"

"Yes actually," I said, discreetly thankful that I wasn't in the least bit short of breath from my chosen exercise. "And it comes in the form of a question."

"_Ask away then,_" It didn't mind.

It was now or never then, to ask what was on my mind to this potential sage of a Pokémon.

"What's your experience with recurring dreams?"

"_…_" Its facial expression practically told me that it was somewhat taken back by my choice of questions.

I began to feel a small ray of hope when I noticed his reaction. "You _do_ know something about recurring dreams, right?"

"_…I do actually,_" Xeno continued.

"Can you tell me what you know, please?" I asked politely, my eyes widened with hope to the point where a twinkle might be perceived in them.

"_Sure, but it might pain me a bit to do so._"

"…What's that supposed to mean?" I wondered.

"_When I was only a couple of years old, I've had a recurring dream._" It began to explain to me. "_I won't bore you with the details of it, but I will tell you what resulted of it. Years later, that dream came true for me. That dream related to the day that I was captured and made a slave of Team Rocket._"

"…So does that mean you were able to see your future or something?" I mustered up a bit of courage to speak after hearing what became of it.

Xeno merely shook its head at that thought. "_No. Back then, that dream was too vague and warped for me to believe that I could see the future. And even if it wasn't, I know I can't. I do possess distinct powers that set me apart from the Lucario norm—you've seen me TELEPORT earlier, if you recall when you lunged at me, right?_"

"Uh-huh." I remembered fondly. "Sorry about that, by the way."

"_It's okay,_" Xeno said indifferently before returning to its topic. "_Anyway, whether I can or I can't see into the future, I _knew_ I couldn't back then. In short, the dream I had was mere chance that it actually came true, so to speak._"

"I see." I said, letting it know that I understood its words.

"_So then, because you asked me that question, I assume you either presently have or once had a recurring dream?_" Xeno connected the logic dots.

"As a matter of fact, I do actually."

I won't bore you with the need to explain my dream a second time over. Long story short, it took me about fifteen minutes to explain everything that I knew about my dream, from what goes on in it to the quantity of reoccurrences of said dream. And all throughout my explanation, Xeno remained as silent as an Exploud with laryngitis. It pondered my explanation of my dream over within its mind and waited until I had explained everything about it and gave it the cue that I was finished describing it to it before Xeno responding back.

"And that's everything that I know about my dream."

If we weren't still running right now, I would've sworn Xeno would've formed that "The Thinker" pose in order to contemplate what I just explained.

"_Interesting…_"

"So, do you know anything about it that can help me with my dilemma?" I asked hopefully.

"_…Dreams are mysterious and exclusive to those who have them in the first place._" Xeno explained it over. "_In your dream, you merely wander about a labyrinth of a human conurbation, aimlessly and endlessly, until you wake up._"

"I know that already." I asserted. "I'm just wondering if you have any idea what it could mean for me."

"_What your dream means to you is your _own_ mystery to solve,_" Xeno explained flatly.

The hope I had presently was cut down to size when Xeno told me that…

"_…However, while I can never _directly_ tell you what significance your dream holds, I can at least give you some indirect advice about it._"

…And then it was pieced back together as flawlessly as it was before.

"_In my case, the dream that I had came true years after I first had them. In your case, it's possible that it's the same thing, a mental gateway to a point in the future…or perhaps even into the past._"

"I don't think my dream has to do with the past." I informed Xeno. "I've been in a human city before, but it was nowhere _near_ as grandiose as the one that I've been dreaming about on a regular basis."

"_You deny that possibility, yet it still plausible that you're wrong._" Xeno stated.

I didn't bother wishing to argue this side of the topic over with it, so I gave Xeno an indifferent "Maybe…" as my response on the subject.

Just from sensing my tone of voice, Xeno complied with me and entered another side of this topic. "_Well then, since you believe that your dream has to do with an event in the future rather than the past, that just opens up one question. And do you know what that question is?_"

I thought it over. "…What human city am I wandering about in my dream?"

"_Exactly. And right off of the tip of my tongue, I can think of two locations on this planet that best fit the city you keep visualizing in your dream._"

"Really?" I asked curiously.

"_Yes. There's Castelia City, which is right here in Unova. And then there's also Lumiose City, off in Kalos. But, as you've explained to me earlier about what you saw of that city in your dream, you noted that the city was almost entirely surrounded by a body of water, one that required boats and bridges to cross over._"

"…That would just leave Castelia City then!" I shouted ecstatically.

With that conclusion drawn, the rest of our midday exercise was spent reaching my destination of choice. And once there, after a few moments to catch our breath—for those who needed to anyway—, we resumed our training in learning how to brandish SACRED SWORD, for the students that were here with us in the first place.

With that in mind, the four of us Swords of Justice resumed our posts and acted as instructors to those who wished to learn our signature craft. And in doing so, we were beginning to notice gradual margins of improvement in the students that were still struggling with the technique.

As for Xeno… Well, because that Aura Pokémon had already pegged this technique in record time, it decided to lend us four a helping hand and assisted in instructing others how to use this technique. And to the students themselves that were learning a thing or two from Xeno instead of or alongside us four Swords of Justice, they saw it as just as much of an honor, now that they knew who Xeno is and what he's accomplished.

And as the hours slipped by, causing the sun to begin to descend into the early evening, all four of us Swords of Justice decided to up the ante by offering _ourselves_ as sparring partners to the students that wished to exercise their newly learned technique.

Unsurprisingly, the mere thought of facing us four was a bit deterring to some of our students, but not all of them. To those that were eager to prove themselves against us, we deliberately went easy against them, and blocked any and every SACRED SWORD swing that they could throw our way. And in doing so, eventually, all of the students in attendance, no matter how meek, sparred hand-and-hoof with us, because the rare and potentially unrepeatable opportunity was presented so eagerly before them.

Xeno itself even sparred against the four of us, four-against-one, just minutes before sunset. Though our sparring match against this Aura Pokémon was only for training purposes and wasn't a serious battle, we still were giving it our all. And even with us four Legendary Pokémon clashing blades with Xeno, it was impressive to everyone just how _capable_ this accomplished Aura Pokémon was against us, how well it can hold its own against us.

And perhaps, if this wasn't a class and was escalated to the point where it was a serious battle, it would've been interesting to see just how formidable this Pokémon genuinely is. But, just fighting against it as is already was enough for us all. And that was also what we only had enough time to do.

Because, before we all knew it, the night had sneaked up on us all, and it was time for us to make the trek home and call it a day for today.

Back here again, in my little den, my little section of land within the Moor of Icirrus that I've called home and I've called my bed.

Only right now, even though I'm pretty sure just about everybody is fast asleep after their exercises and lessons today from us four Swords of Justice, I found myself entirely unable to sleep.

It wasn't because I wasn't tired or anything, because I was actually somewhat exhausted from the physicality of today. What was keeping me awake was the information that I was thinking and reviewing over, involving the explanation that I received from Xeno about my recurring dreams.

I was just flat on my back, my eyes glued onto the black canvas of the night sky, and the hundreds of stars that dotted the cosmos above. My mind was wandering off from my surrounding reality, and I began to wonder what this dream meant to me.

According to Xeno's best guess, the city that I entered within my dreams was Castelia City, just because it best fit the criteria of the location that I described. But as to _why_ I dreamt of that city, that we never properly discussed. That was something that only I can figure out.

But if that's the case, then _how_ will I go about in figuring it out? What do I do from here, with this relatively small lead that Xeno made clear to me?

I would've thought further into that subject, but something in the sky suddenly whizzed by overhead, and made its way further out in the Moor of Icirrus, growing louder in the process. And whatever this something is, it was large, metallic, and a machine of sorts, from what I was _barely_ able to make out of it in the short time frame that I saw it.

"(What in Arceus' name is that?)" I thought to myself, still hearing where this contraption was within this setting.

Feeling that I would know if I followed it, I did just that. I exited my den and dashed over towards this anomaly.

If it wasn't for the fact that there was a full moon today, I wouldn't have been able to properly see my way through all of this darkness, in order to know where I was galloping off to. Nevertheless, I made due with the faint light and marched on, relying more on the sound of that contraption to lure me towards it.

From what I heard, it landed relatively far from my den and the dens of everybody else, about half a mile away by my best guess. And I knew it landed because the closer that I was running towards it, the _softer_ it was getting, until it just stopped making noise altogether.

Thankfully for me, that only happened when I was _just_ able to make out that flying machine amongst the darkness, when I had it within my sights.

And alongside this silenced contraption, I saw Xeno facing it and ogling it, as though it was _anticipating_ it.

I was just about to move closer when I heard Xeno's voice call out…to _me._

"_Keldeo, I know you're behind me and have followed me here._"

…Oh, right… All Lucario are capable of sensing the auras of all living things. For all that I know, it saw me coming long before I reached it here.

"_You might as well come out, while you still have your pride left._"

"…Alright…you caught me." I said, stepping forward towards the Aura Pokémon. "I have my hooves up, metaphorically speaking."

It was then that Xeno turned to face me and acknowledge my presence. And it was also then when I let my curiosity get the better of me.

"Why are you here, and what's with that machine?"

Xeno didn't appear to show any signs of keeping this hidden from me and spoke to me with utmost trust.

"_I'm leaving, and this is my ride to pick me up._"

"You're…leaving?" That statement struck me as unusual. "Why?"

"_For a couple of reasons actually._" Xeno began to explain to me. "_Firstly, I've already learned what I needed to from the four of you. Thank you for that by the way. And secondly, I still have my own personal agenda to follow through on._"

"Which would be…?" I had no clue what Xeno meant by its personal agenda.

"_Completing my main objective in Team Liberator._"

Just as Xeno said that, the side door to that flying machine opened wide and shed a bit more light to our nighttime setting. I saw what was now inside of that machine, and what I noticed was a couple of other Pokémon standing by and waiting for Xeno. They were relatively large Pokémon too, when compared to the size of both Xeno and I. One was an Aggron and the other was a Tyranitar.

My best guess is that these are just two of the supposed twelve Pokémon that are with Xeno at this very moment. And as for the remaining ten that accompany Xeno as its comrades and friends in Team Liberator, I believe that they're probably taking comfort within their respective Poké Balls.

But…why do they choose to reside in those capsules? My best guess is so they can evade capture by unwanted means, and go about with much more calmness in their travels, while also creating some portability in this flying metal vessel, which I'm sure can't fly with the combined weight of all _thirteen_ of them taking up space within it.

"_I already informed your fellow Swords of Justice, Cobalion, Terrakion, and Virizion._" Xeno explained to me. "_My conversation with them was brief. I just told them my sincerest gratitude for their lessons and my reasons for my imminent departure. I would've explained my logic to you as well, but I sensed that you were awake, and still contemplating what we discussed during our midday run, which would mean you noticing the cargo helicopter as it approached this location and following me to my rendezvous point._"

"…" Xeno's astonishing foresight left me speechless.

Now making its leave, Xeno turned away from me and approached its two allies in Team Liberator, whom were waiting for their leader with outstretched hands, to help hoist it onto the flying machine.

But before that side door closed again and they would take off, I still had one thing to say to Xeno, about my recurring dream.

"Wait!" I shouted, getting Xeno's attention. "About my recurring dreams, what am I supposed to do about them?"

Xeno's response to this was with a small smile and a cryptic statement.

"_What do you think?_"

Before I could ask Xeno what it meant by that, he closed the side door and the engines of that machine gradually roared to life. The two pairs of spinning blades on the tops of both the front and back end of that flying machine spun slowly at first, but quickly picked up speed. And when they were at full speed, the sound was almost deafening, and the winds produced almost blinding.

The flying machine—or "cargo helicopter" as it was actually called—no longer touched the ground, rose up, and flew away, disappearing into the night sky.

I was left alone now, with Xeno's last for uttered words resonating heavily within my mind.

"'What do you think?'" I repeated. "Hmm…what _do_ I think?"

The return trip back to my den was quick and I found it much easier to sleep now, because I had grown a bit tired from all of that walking in the middle of the night. I found myself sleeping almost as quickly as I had settled into my grass bed.

And it was then that I had my recurring dream again.

Once again, peering into this city through my mind's eye, I found myself wandering aimlessly about the streets of this city, which I now believe to be Unova's very own Castelia City.

However, even though my dream began as similarly as it always did, something suddenly presented before me when I made a turn into another street immediately broke my norm.

Unsurprisingly, because I still had Xeno Lucario's conversation resonating within my mind throughout the day, I found myself standing face to face with that Aura Pokémon itself.

Without saying anything to me, Xeno gestured me to follow it, and follow it closely, before running off through the streets.

I didn't hesitate to follow after it.

We both ran at reasonably fast speeds and left the streets and buildings we passed by in our dust—metaphorically speaking—, until we eventually reached some of the taller skyscrapers of this city.

Xeno stopped and faced one of them, and I caught up to it shortly after. Neither of us were out of breath or panting heavily from the run—most likely because this was a _dream_, and some physical limitations wouldn't exactly apply here.

Of course, Xeno didn't stay like this for long. It gestured me once again to follow it, only _this_ time it entered the first floor doors of the skyscraper it was facing. And naturally, I followed right behind it.

And from here, Xeno once again bolted through the lifeless room of this floor, this time heading towards the stairs. I ran after Xeno, but this time I took notice of the fact that it was running much faster now, almost intentionally so.

We both made our way to the main stairway of this skyscraper building. Of course, because I was following behind the Aura Pokémon, Xeno naturally got a lead from me, and was already about five floors up. And the instant that Xeno saw me by looking down below, it _really_ kicked itself into high gear, by using EXTREMESPEED to climb each and every ascending floor of this towering human structure in about a few seconds each.

Well, two can play at that game of high-speed ascension. Only in my case, I won't even need the stairs.

Channeling the power of my Water-Type attribute, I forced powerful jets of water to fire from and out of the soles of my hooves, easily catapulting me up and up. I used my water abilities dexterously in conjunction with my agility, by rising up angled towards a wall, "wall-jumping" off of it with a spurt of water from my hooves in conjunction to my leg muscles, and repeating the process on the opposite wall.

Xeno was still ahead of me through its use of EXTREMESPEED, but at least I was right behind it with my AQUA JET technique.

And pretty soon, with our divided tactics in climbing these stairs, we inevitably reached the top, in record time too.

Xeno proceeded through the door that resided past the last, topmost stair, and it took me about five seconds to reach that same door and follow the Aura Pokémon as well.

But upon passing through that doorway, Xeno had vanished entirely from view, leaving me and me alone—once again—within my dream. The only difference here is that I was _led_ here, instead of having wandered over here under my own free will.

Then again, the Xeno within this dream is just a figment of my imagination, so I basically led _myself_ here, which in retrospect means that I just came here on my own.

…I'm digressing again.

So, by myself, I stepped forward from the roof floor and reached the edge, where the bordering walls there were tall enough to reach my shoulders. I had to stand up on my hind legs and put my front hooves on this wall to support myself so that I can better see what was over this boundary.

And when I did so, the sight before me just took my breath away.

I had always seen this city from the ground, and I had rarely stepped into a building, all of which were only a few stories high at the most. But this time, after having entered one of the tallest buildings of this envisioned city, the grandeur of this man-made metropolis was all present here, for me to see.

And to keep a long story short, all around me, this city just seemed to stretch on for eternity. So much so that, it actually took me about a minute to see where the city met water, which is where the harbor and bridges leading to and away from this city resided.

I was about to leave the roof floor, but it was then that I noticed the sky suddenly turning dark on me. Naturally curious, I looked high up at the sky's sun to see why this was the case, and what I saw was nothing short of astonishing.

The sun, bright and high atop in the sky, was slowly being blocked off by the moon, as both their paths of orbit intercepted with each other, until eventually the moon overlapped the sun perfectly.

And then everything went dark…briefly.

What I saw next from this solar eclipse was what definitely made me believe that I was dreaming, because this next phenomenon was not natural.

When the world came back to light, the sky turned purple by what had apparently replaced both the sun and the moon. A bright six-pronged star, surrounded by five smaller, white, ordinary stars, shined brightly across this city. Its light bathed the entirety of this city below in an unnatural shade of violet.

But this didn't last too long. Because, before I knew it, this apparently new sun suddenly flashed once, blinding me with its white light. And the next thing that I knew, I woke back up in my den.

I awoke to find myself on my back, and my head facing the morning sky.

The sky today, it was still as blue as it always was. However, what I saw in that dream, with the unnatural purple star shining down on Castelia City, made me quickly look away from the sky and get up on my feet.

I stretched myself relatively quickly, proceeded over towards that patch of soil that I kept all of my tally marks of this recurring dream, and left one more into the dirt with a swift stomp into the dirt, all while keeping a serious countenance.

"(That settles it,)" I thought to myself with determination. "(I must take the road to Castelia City.)"

But just as I thought this, another thought entered my mind, one that replaced my determination with uncertainty.

"(But…what will my parents think about that?)"

Standing here in my sleeping quarters would do nothing but make me create these mental gymnastics on the subject. So to avoid this, I marched over towards the shared dens of Cobalion, Terrakion, and Virizion, wishing to confront this matter head on instead of worrying about it.

And as to how they'll react when I tell them what I have in mind…? I will only know when I ask them.

As I was walking over to their collective housing not too far off from my own, I noticed that all three of my fellow Swords of Justice were awake and already leaving to begin their lessons today to our Pokémon students.

But because I was approaching them, they noticed me almost immediately, and greeted me welcomingly.

"Hello, Keldeo." Cobalion said firstly, as the elected leader.

"Did you sleep well this time?" Virizion continued, naturally concerned of our wellbeing.

"Or…is there something molesting you today?" Terrakion concluded, keen on any abnormal change in our constitutions.

"Hello, you three…" I began with the slightest of apprehension in my tone of voice, but I didn't wish for that to slow me down from telling them what was on my mind. "There… There's…actually something molesting me today."

"Tell us about it." Cobalion said directly.

Upon first glance, they didn't appear to show any signs of suspicion as to what I was thinking about telling them. But that might change when I told them what was on my mind.

"Do you three recall my conversation with Xeno during yesterday's—"

I would've finished my sentence, but I was unable to say another word on account of Virizion suddenly deciding to put the end of one of its feet directly into my mouth—an act that would be a lot more sanitary if we had hands instead of _hooves_. And my only response to this was to look at Virizion quizzically.

"We know where you're going with this," Virizion said with a friendly smile on its face. "And our answer to your request is a unanimous 'yes'."

Virizion removed her foot from my mouth and the three of them gave me a second or two to process this, because they noticed that I was more or less rendered speechless by how _spontaneous_ their agreement was to my decision to pursue the reasons for my recurring dreams. Though I was also rendered speechless as to _why_ they were entirely in agreement with my wishes, and most importantly, how they already knew beforehand…"beforehoof"…ah, screw it, you get the picture.

"How did you guys know I wanted to leave?" I asked them.

"Xeno Lucario told us last night," Terrakion explained to me. "It mentioned that conversation that the two of you had about your recurring dreams yesterday and how it most likely relates to Castelia City."

To the fact that Xeno told them this beforehand, I narrowed my eyes and puckered my lips quizzically.

"(Not sure if Xeno helped me, or lied to me…)" I thought.

"To prepare for your departure, you should gather some food and supplies for your journey." Cobalion suggested, breaking my short train of thought.

All did was nod in response.

As I went to forage for a few days worth of Berries within the forests of the Moor of Icirrus, my comrades looked through the pile of lost items that trainers have left behind here over the years, searching for something that would prove to be an asset to me.

And thankfully for me, there was an abundance of lost items for me to use.

There were potions, medicinal herbs, revives, ethers, and even a couple of escape ropes, all in good working order. But most importantly, there was at least two backpacks for me to carry those supplies alongside the Berries that I gathered.

Because the absolute last thing that I wanted was—and I'll be frank with this—to carry these items as though they were _suppositories_. Hardly anything would fit in there anyway…and I'll just leave it there before things get weird.

So, with my supplies gathered, my comrades helped modify the straps to those backpacks so that I can comfortably wear one on each side. And then with these backpacks firmly, yet snugly secured onto my midsection, they loaded one of the backpacks with the medicinal and emergency supplies, and the other with all of the Berries that I gathered. The Berries themselves, despite originating only from the Moor of Icirrus, were quite diverse, and I managed to gather at least a dozen different types of Berries, including Lum Berries and Sitrus Berries.

And with that all taken care of, all that was left was to bid these three Pokémon that I've known and loved, for virtually all my life, a fond—and hopefully _temporary_—farewell.

I approached all three of them individually and hugged them…in the only way that this body can allow me to. To anyone seeing this, it would appear like I was trying to mount them head-on, struggling to get my front hooves on their shoulders and around their necks. Still, I did this anyway, because I knew that I wouldn't see them again for quite some time. It could be a few days until I return home, or a week. Maybe even a month, depending on what crosses my path or what I encounter. Nevertheless, I assured them with my gauche affection that I would miss them, but not for long, as long as I return home safely at the earliest.

With one last look goodbye, I turned away from my parents and galloped away from the Moor of Icirrus, a confident smirk of adventure written plainly on my face. And while I didn't look back again to see if the three of them were still looking at me or not as I made my way over the hills and, eventually, out of sight, I'm quite sure that they still looked on until they physically couldn't anymore, and then began their day.

And as I continued over the hills, heading south to Castelia City, the only thing that bothered me mentally and kept me occupied was what I saw in my latest dream, and what I was trying to make sense of.

That six-sided star, which replaced both the sun and the moon during that solar eclipse over Castelia City and radiated violet light omnisciently.

Was what I saw in my dream just that? Was it merely a warped figment of my imagination? Or was it something more?

Something…critical?


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: Tough City Life**

They say that you never know what you had until it's gone. I can believe that phrase… I never knew my mother… I wish I did though. My dad is a Ninetales… he use to belong to an Exploration Team but he never talks much about it. His name is Firestorm. My name is Foxfire… I'm a young female Vulpix, common I know… I'm actually a very timid Vulpix; scared to really explore or talk to anyone I don't know. To be honest I'm not a fighter at all, but I wish to be strong and be able to speak up my mind, but my fear always holds me back.

Dad wears this mysterious purple beautiful gem stone around his neck, the strap he uses seems to be fine material, though I don't know where he got it, what it's for, or even what it really is, but he likes wearing it. I don't care; I just want to live in peace.

Lately I've been noticing the sky's been getting kind of dark lately… I wonder why? I've also been getting a lot of bad vibes lately… and it's been getting me anxious. Since I don't have any friends I usually just stay here with my Dad in a small park in this huge city. Yes, I live in Castelia City, a really huge city in the Unova region.

It was mostly just Dad and me… I never dared to venture outside, because I know how dangerous it is… Dad told me a lot about the dangers too. Of course, there were some other Pokémon that live here too, like Rattata, Eevee, Skitty… but they don't want to be my friends… they always made fun of me just because I didn't have a Mom, saying things like 'maybe your Mom left because she didn't want an annoying brat like you.' That really stung.

One Eevee did actually talk to me though, he said that it wasn't fair that everyone picked on me just because I didn't have a mother, but I never saw him again after a girl human Trainer came here… I think he got captured by her. Oh well… I guess I don't need friends…

* * *

><p>Dad sat down with me one late night, I was eating some berries we found. "Foxfire…"<p>

"Yes, father?" I said with respect, looking up at him.

Dad wrapped me with one of his tails, it always felt nice feeling his tail wrap around me, especially on cold nights. "I don't like how you're such a lonely child, Foxfire… I wish for you to make new friends, and get stronger out there."

I stopped eating and looked at him, "… D-Dad, surely you're not suggesting I leave this safe territory to go out there where it's unsafe, right?"

But Dad just sighed, "I do not wish for you to spend your days here, young Foxfire. I love you, with all of my heart, but you can't ever grow if you're stuck here all the time."

"W-well if you want me to explore, Dad, why not just take me out for a walk or something? I don't want to leave home." I protested, scared out of my wits at the very thought of leaving home!

"You must learn to fend for yourself, my child. Tomorrow morning we will explore the city, but then you must decide what you're going to do after that, Foxfire." Dad said before lying down.

I frowned… I didn't want to leave the territory… what can I do out there? I'll probably just get eaten or something… Still, Dad believes this might be good for me. Maybe if he sees I can't handle myself out there he would call it off, just have to try and get a good night sleep.

Well… I had hoped it was just another night where I sleep, but it wasn't… Nobody saw it coming… but that night, I couldn't sleep. I was too afraid to go to sleep, knowing that tomorrow I have to go out; at least Dad will be with me. But for some reason I felt uneasy… I don't even know why, it's got to be more than just a simple walk in the city, and hoping no human will try to capture us. I couldn't help but look up at the sky… it's been getting darker lately, even though it's night it just feels so wrong and unnatural… maybe I'm looking too much into this and getting paranoid.

I tried to sleep again… but then my ears twitched as I could swear I heard footsteps… footsteps that didn't sound at all like Pokémon. What was that? I lifted up my head. I looked around, it was dark… but I can usually see in the dark since I'm a fox Pokémon. I saw Dad was still asleep, but then I heard something that sounded like a thud. That woke Dad up, he usually has very high senses, he looked around before growling on high alert.

"D-Dad, what is it?" I asked nervously.

"Humans… but these are not Trainers, or just citizens, I know this scent anywhere… they belong to Team Rocket." He hissed.

"Wh-what?" I heard about an evil organization that existed on far away regions like Kanto and Johto, they're called Team Rocket and they steal rare Pokémon and then use them for experiments. "B-but what are they doing in Unova!?"

"Team Rocket can go just about anywhere; their resources can take them far. Listen to me Foxfire; we can't stay here… they're out looking for Pokémon, us included. Come, we need to get out of here… stay close to me." Dad said and I nodded, quickly following him.

I'm glad we could see in the dark, so it was easier for us to get moving. I was scared, never have we ever been hunted, especially not by humans before. The Trainers never bother to look too deep into the park. I heard those footsteps getting closer… I hope we can make it out of here.

"There! I see them!" I heard someone shout, causing me to yip.

"Shh! Come on!" Dad picked me up by using his teeth to hold the scruff of my fur on my neck.

"It's getting away!" someone shouted.

I couldn't see what was going on, it was happening so fast, but I think they were shooting some kind of net at us because I see those nets flying everywhere! Dad kept running with me in his mouth. I noticed the purple stone around his neck was glowing a little bit… what does that mean? I don't know anything about that mysterious stone Dad likes to wear.

Dad jumped around the city, it was dark despite all the city lights. He then stopped near an alleyway and put me between some dumpsters. "You stay here until its safe, then I want you to run, okay? And whatever you do; don't let them take you or this stone." Dad said as he took off the stone with Extrasensory and then putting it around my own neck.

"D-dad! Don't leave me here alone!" I was scared out of my mind just thinking about him leaving me!

"I'm sorry, but you need to get out on your own. I hope to see you again, my daughter." Dad said before running off, the footsteps running after him.

I silently cried in fear, wishing I wasn't left alone like this… Why did he give me this stone? He loves it far more than I do, and he knows more about it too… what do I know about it? To me it just looks pretty, nothing more! Why give it to me? I don't know… and I don't know what to do other than just sit here, crying and hoping someone nice will find me and take me in until Dad gets back.

* * *

><p>I just stayed there for a while… I don't know how long… it's gotten quiet, well not that quiet since the city itself is busy 247, but what I mean is I don't hear those evil humans out there anymore… I hope Dad is okay… I just curled up, not wanting to move… but then I heard someone growling, uh-oh… I lifted up my head and saw a Houndour growling at me.

"Uh… c-c-can I h-help you?" I asked it nervously, not wanting any trouble.

The Houndour growled, "You're in my space little fox, get out and get moving!"

"O-oh I'm s-sorry a-about that… s-see I-I'm waiting f-for my dad and-"

"I don't care, just leave!" Houndour snapped at me and I yipped, quickly moving away.

Yes, I'm timid and shy, I can't stand up for myself either because I'm very weak. I sighed as I walked… well Dad did say he wanted me to get out and explore… guess he's getting his wish. I touched the smooth purple stone hanging around my neck… I hope I'll find him soon and give this stone back to him.

Where can I go though… I don't know… I timidly looked out from the alleyway, seeing a lot of people walking around… sheesh, it's an endless sea of people out there! Where am I supposed to go? What am I supposed to do? I looked up at the sky as if hoping Mew or Arceus would just swoop down and tell me, but that's when I noticed the moon was looking much bigger and brighter than ever before… something about this made me more uneasy.

I shook my head and look down, not liking how bright and big the moon is. So I guess I should just… move around… I just walked out, staying near the sides and out of the busy human's ways. I looked around, wondering what to do and where to go.

I stopped when a Growlithe was sniffing around and trying to eat some… spilt ice cream cone or something. I was walking passed him when it turned and growled at me. I stopped and frowned.

"What do you want?" I asked.

"Get out, this is my territory, fox!" Growlithe growled at me.

"I was just passing by! I can't go anywhere else with all these humans walking around." I tried to reason with it.

"Not my problem, just get off my territory or I'll bite you!" Growlithe snapped at me and I gulped but backed away.

Well now what? I could try crossing the streets but I might get stepped on with all those humans walking around. I groaned… I'm getting hungry. I should've eaten more berries if I knew this was going to happen. Ugh… how am I going to eat? There aren't any natural berries here… Hmm? *Sniff, sniff* I smell food… my stomach growled.

I followed the yummy scent and it led me to a human restaurant… now what am I going to do? I can't eat at a human restaurant… not unless I had a human owner. I began drooling seeing all the human Pokémon being fed such yummy food… I'm jealous… maybe being a human pet may not be so bad. Oh… but Dad said not to let anyone get this… gem. Ugh… great, I'm stuck_ and_ starving! What's so important about this stupid gem that he didn't want anyone to get their hands on it anyway?

I turned around and gasped when I saw a Houndour, a Growlithe and a Poocheyana all growling at me. They seem to have formed a gang and the Houndour is their leader. I gulped, backing away, "W-what's going?" I asked them nervously.

"What's wrong is that you're standing in _our turf_!" Houndour snapped.

"What? But this is such a big place and I have nowhere else to go…" I said timidly and they just kept coming up at me.

"I said leave before we have to get nasty with you!" Houndour growled.

"This isn't fair! I'd have to cross that road to leave and I'll get run over!" I pointed out, hoping they'd see reason.

Of course neither of them seems to care that I can't get across, so they kept growling, as if threatening me to either leave now or face the consequences. I didn't know what to do… I couldn't fight them… could I?

"Look! I can't get across!" I snapped at them, finally losing my patients.

"Then you become our next meal!" Houndour snapped. "Get her!"

I yelped as they all came at me! I reacted quickly and used Quick Attack, thankfully all those times Dad chased me around I was fast, and dodged the incoming Bite attack. But this only angered the Houndour as he growled, and now I find myself surrounded by the three canine Pokémon! They all dived at me with a vicious Bite attack, I yelped as I ran under them while they were jumping at me and ran across the side-walk, the other three were chasing and barking at me. I knew I couldn't slow down or they'll tear me to pieces!

I passed some humans who looked surprised or annoyed to see me and the other three chasing me like some common Purrloin. I've got to find a place to hide! But I ended up tripping over something because I fell down and the Houndour jumped at me! I screamed, yelled and struggled as it bit down on my back! I kicked and bucked like a Ponyta to get him off my back! The other two then tackled me, making me lose my balance. It hurts! IT HURTS!

* * *

><p>Suddenly a net was over us, before I could think we were suddenly picked up and thrown into a metal box and it closed up. I whimpered and whined as the Houndour got off me and the three began whining, scratching at the metal door that shut us in here. I blinked, still trembling… my back hurts and is bleeding a little. I looked around, glad the three were too distracted to pay any attention to me. There were more Pokémon here too, many of them looked scared or sad.<p>

I looked at one Pokémon that was an Eevee, and asked him, "Hey… uh… what's going on?"

The Eevee sighed and answered, "We're being taken to the Poke Pound, it's where the humans take stray or wild Pokémon in the city and put into the pound for humans to adopt us as their pets."

"Is that a bad thing?" I asked, not sure if this is really so bad. Maybe if a human adopt me I won't have to fend for myself. I don't even know if Dad is alive or not anymore at this point.

"We can't know what human will adopt us, for all we know we could be sold into slavery or sold again!" Eevee whimpered. "I-I'm scared… I don't want to be adopted by a mean person…"

I began to feel nervous… I wanted someone to take care of me, but… what if they're bad? And Dad said not to let anyone get their hands on this purple stone… What should I do? Ugh, it's not like I have a choice right now anyway.

"This is _all your _fault!" Houndour barked at me and I glared at him.

"It's your own fault for locking me in here!" I snapped back, feeling my patience running thin. "If you'd just let me pass without any commotion none of us would be in here right now!"

Houndour growled at me and I only glared. Yes I was timid, but this guy was pushing me too far. Eevee spoke up, "Enough! We shouldn't fight, we need to find a way out of here before they put us into the Poke Pound!"

"That's going to be hard considering these guys can't get along with anyone." I grumbled, looking at the three canine Pokémon.

"Besides, once you're caught there is no getting out." Growlithe said sadly. "So they say in the streets."

I looked out in the back of the bars, wondering where this thing is taking us. I see a lot of people still walking in the road. I did notice a man wearing black and a big red R on his chest was looking at me as if interested. I didn't like that look… maybe he was interested in the purple stone I was wearing around my neck? I didn't like this…

* * *

><p>The big metal box came to a stop, and the man who had caught us walked over to us. The Poocheyana, Growlithe and Houndour were all growling at the man, as if daring him to open the cage and as soon as he does they'll jump at him. However the man seems to be prepared as there were more of them. I gulped; they all had a small cage beside them that they plan to put us in. The man opened the cage door up and the three jumped at him, but they were soon handled by a sudden Thunder Wave that came out of nowhere, paralyzing them. I noticed a Magnemite with them… that must be what paralyzed them.<p>

So it was either cooperation or be stubborn and get paralyzed. I didn't like either of the options since both had the same result just that the latter will hurt and make you numb for a while. The man had the others scoop up the three paralyzed dog Pokémon while he looked at me and the Eevee beside me. Both of us knew better than to pick fights we can't win, so we let him pick us up by the scruff of our necks and put us into those smaller cages where we can hardly move.

So the man was carrying me in this cage- I assume the other humans were carrying the rest of us- and bringing me into their building. Inside I can see a lot of humans walking around, many of them were parents with their child, most likely looking for the Pokémon they want to train or keep as a pet. My father spoke about humans a lot and how they work. I don't know how Dad knows so much about them since he was never a human's Pokémon before.

Before I knew it I was dumped into another cage, this one was a bit roomier, but I still can't move much. I looked out to see some kind of glass was blocking me from leaving. I sighed as I lay there, not sure what to do now. I must've fallen asleep because I think now I'm dreaming.

* * *

><p><em>I find myself in a forest, running from… from… I don't know what, but it was dark and scary. I kept going, trying to get away from the shadows that were chasing me. What should I do?<em>

_I tripped and fell, it hurts… I look behind me… the shadows were gone. Oh thank Mew… I slowly stood up, but a shadow loomed over me. I looked up and saw… a strange horse-like Pokémon in front of me… a Pokémon I have never seen before. It had a long purple horn and looked to be ready to battle. It turned to me._

"_Follow me, hurry!" it said to me urgently before taking off._

"_W-wait! I can't run that fast!" I yelled, using Quick Attack to try and catch up to him. I wasn't fast enough to keep though, "WAIT! WHERE ARE YOU!?" suddenly everything around me grew dark again, the sky was turning purple as I looked up to see the moon was covering the sun. This is the solar eclipsed Dad told me about, but should it be this scary? I looked around and saw I was being surrounded by the shadows once more._

_I tried to fight back, but all I could really use is Ember and Quick Attack, I didn't know any other moves because I never bothered to train! The shadows all lunged at me… and I woke up in sweat._

* * *

><p>I groaned, shaking my head that was a very creepy and disturbing dream. I looked up and jumped back when I saw that same guy I saw earlier with the black suit and the big R on his shirt looking at me with greedy eyes. But… I think it's my stone he's looking at, apparently he knows something about this stone that I don't.<p>

"Sir… are you sure you want to adopt this Vulpix?" I saw one of the men who captured me earlier asked. "We hasn't bathed or given her shots yet."

"It's fine, I just want the Vulpix." The man in black said, staring at me, or rather the stone around my neck, in a hungry way. "Well we still have to check her collar to see if she belongs to anyone."

Collar? I don't have a- oh right, the stone, apparently they think it's a human collar. But the R guy just glared, "Just give me the Vulpix and the 'collar' around her neck!"

"S-sir, we have rules you know, we can't just dismiss them for you." The man said back, and I'm rooting for the man since I didn't want to go with the man in uniform, I had a very bad feeling about him.

"Don't you understand? This Vulpix must be mine! But if you won't give it to me then I will take it by force!" The man in the black uniform took out a red and white ball object and threw it to the ground. "Arbok use Haze!" the ball opened suddenly and a white flash came out, the white flash turned into an Arbok, an angry looking purple cobra snake!

I yelped when the Arbok shot out some black smoke from its mouth. The man break open the glass I was in and grabbed me! I struggled, but he held me tight. He got his filthy hand on my purple shiny rock, no… I can't let him get it… I promised Dad! I spat Ember on his hand, causing him to drop me! I yipped.

"Little monster! Arbok use Wrap and trap that Vulpix now!" the man demanded.

I yelp when I saw the Arbok coming at me, I quickly bolted away, but it was hard to see in this haze… I had to rely on my other senses… like Dad taught me, always be wary of hidden predators, if you can't see them use your ears to listen or your nose to smell for them. It was hard to breathe in this haze, let alone smell, so I had to rely on my ears.

I need to find a way out… where's the door? I managed to keep running from the Arbok but for how long? I jumped when the cops came and blowing their whistles, and barking from the Growlithes and Herdier that they use, most likely to attack that uniform bad guy who tried to take me and the stone.

I coughed, trying to get away, but somebody grabbed the scruff of my fur, I think it's a Growlithe as I sense high heat within the canine. It ran over to a police woman.

"Good boy, now sic him!" she picked me up while the Growlithe jumped back into the haze. She petted my head and it made me want to purr. She has soft hands… I felt much safer now knowing the police are here to rescue me, Dad told me about them, so I should be safe, right?

"Oh you poor little Vulpix, we better find you a good home… Oh? What's this?" She looked at the stone around me neck. "Huh, I guess you must belong to a very wealthy owner already, they must be worried about you. Hmm… Too bad they neglected to leave a phone number on your collar…"

They… think I belong to some rich person? Huh, guess the stone can also be used to trick some humans that it's a collar. That's going to come in handy, just wish the guy in the pound did that before casting me into a cage.

I don't know what happened to that guy in the uniform, but I was brought back to the police station, where there were more police humans. Hmm… what will happen if they can't find 'my owner'? Would they released me back into the streets or send me to a new home? Hmm… Dad said not to let anyone get their hands on this stone… but that doesn't mean I can't go to a better home, right?

* * *

><p>"Officer Jenny, there are no reports on anyone wealthy having a lost Vulpix." A cop said to the woman beside me. So her name is Jenny…<p>

"But then… does that mean this is a wild Vulpix?" Jenny said, looking at me.

I gave a smile and nodded, and she sighed, "Okay… I don't know where this Vulpix got something so valuable but I'll have to take this stone and find out what it is and return it to its rightful owner."

I froze and gulped, no, she can't take it… it does belong to me… or my Dad, but she can't take it! But I can't just fight back; what if they sic their canine Pokémon on me? She reached down and was about to take the stone but I backed away, hoping she'd get the message.

"Now, now, I need to take this back to the rightful owner, obviously it's expensive and important, you can't keep it." Jenny said to me and I shook my head.

"But this is my Dad's stone! You can't take it!" I whined, but humans can't understand us Pokémon, which is really bad because I can't tell her squat!

"Look, I know you like it but you can't keep it, this need to be returned." Jenny scolded me.

I shook my head but then my ears heard a voice, "Find me that Vulpix with the stone!" That voice… it's the voice of the man who tried to kidnap me before! I don't think I'm safe here- WAH! The lights suddenly went out, that man must've cut the power, and with the police humans going around trying to figure out what's going that man and his mean Pokémon can come in here and grab me! I have to get out of here!

Thankfully because I can see in the dark much easier than humans because foxes are natural night predators, I managed to get outside, but this turned out to be a mistake… outside I had no protection, and that R man along with a mean looking Houndoom were glaring at me. I knew I had to get away.

"You're not going to get away, my little treasure." The man smirked evilly.

I yelped and ran as his Houndoom began chasing me. Thankfully Quick Attack was helping me keep ahead, but I can't keep this move up forever! The Houndoom did manage to get at my tails a few times because I was getting tired. I yipped as I tripped over a rock on the sidewalk, and the Houndoom jumped at me, his teeth gnashing! I screamed as he used Crunch on me! While I was screaming and struggling something purple began flashing tremendously, I don't know what was happening, but I felt a sudden power rush and the sun in the sky suddenly got ten times brighter, blinding me and probably the Houndoom too, he let me go and, without thinking, I used Quick Attack at his chest and somehow threw him into a building with ease. I didn't stay there trying to figure it out; I just ran for it. I knew I had to get out of the city as quickly as possible!

I didn't dare stop… I knew if I did my body would collapse from the pain and exhaustion and I would never get away from that evil R guy with those big mean Pokémon! Oooh… where's Dad when I need him... I still don't know what happened back there with the Houndoom… I managed to get to the outskirts of the city, but I knew I couldn't stay here too long… I have to find a place to hide… maybe in the woods? No… that's… that's dangerous, there's bound to be a lot of wild Pokémon and… I'd still have to cross the Skyarrow Bridge!

* * *

><p>I don't think I can make that journey… the Pinwheel Forest is too much for me… and I can't cross that bridge to get to it… I stopped finally and my body collapsed… maybe I can just hide out here… nobody could think to look for a Vulpix way out here, right?<p>

I don't know how long it's been, but I must've fallen asleep, because when I opened my eyes again the morning sun was already rising. Huh… I guess I was more tired than I thought. I slowly sat up, my body was aching everywhere, I was just glad that the Houndoom wasn't trying to kill me with that Crunch attack or I'd be dead right now. The stone is still around my neck… I glared at it… this thing has caused me so much trouble! I'd be better off throwing it away and forgetting about it! … But I can't… I promised Dad not to let anyone get it…

Suddenly I heard that R guy's voice… no, I thought I lost him! He won't give up! "I know that Vulpix is here somewhere… Houndoom, find her!" he released the Houndoom from one of those red and white balls.

I gulped… I knew I had to get out of here, whatever freaky phenomena happened last time that got me away from that Houndoom earlier may not happen again, so I won't be taking my chances… I have to try and cross that Skyarrow Bridge and get into the forest, quickly. I weakly stood up and started walking… no, I have to be faster, my ears winced when I heard the Houndoom's growling and pawsteps coming this way quickly. My weak walking got faster, soon becoming a trot, then a jog and now all out running… ugh… this hurts… my body is so sore, but I can't stop now, I have to keep going!

I looked out at the huge and long Skyarrow Bridge… I gulped, but I can't stop here… ooh… I hope I'll make it! The Pinwheel Forest Dad told me about should have plenty of places to hide! I just have to make it across this dreaded bridge… I gulped when I heard thunder… great, the skies are cloudy this morning… oh I hope it doesn't rain… Dad told me I didn't have Flash Fire as my ability, but something called Drought… he said it was a rare ability to have, but I have no idea what the heck Drought it or how to use it… I'm getting off subject here. Anyway I have to keep going.

I looked down at the oceans below… that's… a very long drop… not to mention an endless range or salt water… I don't mind water, in fact I like it which is strange for a Fire type I know, but I can't help that I like it, however I'm still a Fire type and there's no way I can survive if I fall off this bridge. I cringed when I heard the Houndoom's howls getting closer, no time to get side-track I have to keep going.

No problem, this bridge is wide and strong enough, I'm sure nothing will go wrong, just keep going… But there's also not a lot of room to hide in case he catches up to me. Oooh, I'm never going to make it!

I jumped when a hot Flamethrower raged passed me, grazing some of my fur… That was strong… I know I'm a Fire type too but that still hurts! I guess it's because I'm such a weakling and that Houndoom is powerful and since I don't have the Flash Fire ability I'm not immune to fire attacks! Oh I cursed the day I was hatched without Flash Fire right now! Ah! The end of the bridge, yes, I can make it! I CAN MAKE IT!

* * *

><p>NO! Before I could make a dive into the forest, the Houndoom managed to catch up to me, only this time he grabbed one of my tails with his teeth and held me there. I knew I better do something quick or that R man will capture me… I can't fight, but… maybe I won't have to; I just have to trick him. Oh I wish I knew how to use Confuse Ray… but maybe it'll still work.<p>

"H-hey! Your Master wanted this stone, right?" I asked him, holding up my purple stone.

Houndoom glared at me, "What about it?"

"What if I, say, throw it into the ocean?" I said, smugly.

"You wouldn't dare!" Houndoom growled, giving me a warning glare, making me gulped.

"I-I would… if you don't let me go I would." I said as I silently picked up a random rock.

"If you do I will rip you apart!" Houndoom growled.

"Okay, but then you wouldn't get the time to get the stone." I said as I threw the rock over the bridge, in his panic he didn't see that it wasn't the one around my neck and he dropped me.

"NO! NO! NO!" Houndoom ran after it and I quickly made a run for it into the forest, it wouldn't take him long to realize I only threw a regular rock after all and I have to get him off my trail before he comes looking for me, teeth and fire a blazing.

I panted as I had finally made it into Pinwheel Forest… but now that I'm here… still hurt and sore… and filled with wild Pokémon… will I even be able to survive? My ears twitched… that Houndoom still hasn't given up! I have to go in deeper.

I ran… and ran… until I was too tired to even more anymore. I fell to the grassy floor, panting… didn't notice a shadow walking up to me until I heard a voice.

"Who are you?"

I gasped as I looked up and over at the Pokémon who addressed me…


	3. Chapter 3

The Ensnarement of Dimensions Chapter 3

Hello everyone! It's me, Cyndaquil123 again.

This chapter is the first chapter that is being written by me. I will hope that you all will enjoy it.

I present to you now, Chapter 3

_Five Years Ago…_

In a small alleyway, which was getting soaked from the not-so-light rain the news had predicted, there was a small pokemon hiding under the trash. This pokemon was a sneasel, a wild one at that. He was an outcast of outcast, thrown into the alleyway by other wild, street pokemon. The cause of this was because of his eyes, his right one being pink and his left blue. The street pokemon considered it a curse, something that would bring bad luck to all those that would associate themselves with him.

"It's not a curse," mumbled the sneasel," The only bad luck it brings is the suspicion of others, and if they act on their suspicions they cause any unfortunate happenings unto me". The sneasel sighed. Throughout his short, yet eventful life he had been called many things. Not many were pleasant. Freak, Disaster, Deathbringer. Out of all the names he had been called he only cared for one, and it was the most painful. He wished that if anything was to be said about him, it was by that name. The name Zaroc. He shuddered at the memory.

The sneasel looked into a nearby puddle, studding his eyes. It really was the worst place for a disorder, or at least what he considered one. There was no way to hide it, in a place where everyone looked, and extremely rare. The rain started to come down harder, pounding on his head. He turned away from the puddle showing his horrible eyes, even though they were just ripples now.

Then something caught his eye. It was a piece of one of the daily news, blowing through the wind. He caught it as he saw the title. It was _The Gatelock opens! Explores tell their story._ He looked at the paper with a little interest. The Gatelock was apparently a dungeon that no one could enter, even the best and strongest explores couldn't get through. It was called the Gatelock because everyone could only get far enough to get to a gate which none could enter. Even more curiously, were the two signals that were the two signals on the front, one of apples and one of diamonds.

Straightening out the paper to see it fully, the sneasel started to read.

"We weren't really a famous team, in fact we actually failed most of the time," said the leader, a Scolipede," I hadn't even evolved yet when we first started out on this adventure. When we left we went out with our strongest team members, me, my partner Slowpoke, Cincciono, and her husband Ninetales. By the time we had reached the gate we had almost already used up all of our reviver seeds and Oran berries. When we got to the gate we saw the signals and the gate of course closed. We had looked around to see if anybody had missed a puzzle or something similar, and to our surprise, we did. We found a strange poem near the bottom of the gate.

_Those of Fate_

_That have come of Late_

_Whether they seek the Key_

_Or try to Flee_

_Know that the only way Through_

_Is to find among You_

_The one with the forgotten Path_

We had looked at each other, and then Slowpoke. It was obvious to us that the only way to get past the gate was to get slowpoke to forget about the way to the gate. Usually, contact with a psychic pokemon was enough to make most slowpokes forget recent events. However, our Slowpoke was not a normal slowpoke, he could remember more than even I could. But, because of his kin, he was the most likely to forget recent events. We tried all of the rest of the day to get Slowpoke to forget the way here, but it was not to be. We set up camp with the some other team that was there. Slowpoke was about to go to bed, when he bumped against the gate. It glowed blue and opened.

We had all known that even with his current memory, Slowpoke had forgotten about his past parents and home, but it hadn't occurred to us until then that the poem may not have been talking about the way to the gate, but his own past. We hurried in and the door closed after us.

There were no pokemon on the way to the end of the dungeon, not even savage pokemon. When we thought we had reached the end of the dungeon, we found another gate. This gate had the signal of stars and a cloud. There was another poem on this gate too. This gate proved easier for me to find the way through, but harder to admit. The poem said:

_If you come here looking for Gold_

_Turn away for none is in Hold_

_Those who wish to serve and Save_

_Will have a new life to Pave_

_The key will not go to those who are not the One _

_And stay with him that is not Done_

_If you want to pass this Way_

_There is price to Pay_

_Find the one in your team that feels Abandoned_

This poem was hard to accept because I knew it was talking about me. While I was the leader, I thought that the others on my team would just leave me behind if I hurt. I felt that none would care if I were to die. I was in fear of being abandoned. I think that at that point the adventure stopped for me.

There was another long path that we had to go down; once again there were no savage pokemon, only us. There was no excited speculations of what we might find only a few quick glances towards me as I rolled down the path.

We were almost at the next gate, when suddenly, a Golurk and some other pokemon dropped down on us, only they didn't speak, they didn't move forward, they just stared at us with their cold eyes.

They were robots.

Since they were robots they had extra strength, more skill, and better stats than most pokemon, in fact they couldn't even run out of PP. They were horrifying enemies; ones that I hope to never face again. We barely won, and I don't think we could win again.

It was awful, even if I did evolve during the battle, it wasn't worth it. We had almost defeated all of the robo-pokemon, when suddenly; one of them drove its arms right through Ninetales and Cincciono's chests. A reviver seed could have saved them both, but we only had one left. In the end Cincciono forced Ninetales to have it before he died and gave him a stone to give to their child. We found the next gate easily enough and set up camp.

We were going to go back, but Ninetales persuaded us not to saying that Cincciono would have wanted us to. So we did, and read the next gate's poem. Once again there were signals; they were some balloons and butterflies.

_Of those who want the key to Pass_

_Don't find the answer in a Flash_

_For to pass this door, as painful it may Be_

_It is for one easy to See_

_For in order to get pass this door_

_Whether filled with legends of Lore_

_You must find the one among you who has lost a loved one_

We were all silent as Ninetales slowly stepped up to the gate and pushed it open. When we looked in we saw that it was a room with a chest and a bed. The bed was empty, but the chest was not. Inside of it was a giant key, one that most could not pick up. We definitely couldn't, we left I there and came back here. The reason I am telling you about this is so I can explain my next statement. Our exploration team is disbanded.

Sneasel looked at the paper as he saw it roll away from him, pushed by the wind. He thought about the gates that the exploration team had found. No one would go to the gates, not after hearing this news report. However, Sneasel was able to see one flaw that these robots had that other pokemon didn't. Robot pokemon can't heal. He should be able to just walk to the gates and through them easily, not encountering any pokemon, especially exploration teams.

Sneasel frowned a little, often he had to avoid pokemon towns and dungeons because if a team saw him they'd fight him and try to bring me under arrest for either my eyes or because some child was frightened by me from my claws and had asked a team to take me down. Most of the other sneasels lived in cold desolate places because of this problem. No one in their right mind would live in a place where it was cold year round and would also have a chance of running into a territorial beartic. I was a bit tempted to go there myself a bit honestly, a little because of the lack of town pokemon and a little because most exploration teams try to avoid such places. However, I figured that one of the groups of sneasels would try to destroy me, or a police force would consider me a threat when I went there. It's happened before, and I already have a hard time keeping the police off my backside… I never did like the cold anyways.

It would take a while to gather all the supplies together, and once I did it would be hard to get out of the city if I went through the legal way because of my eyes. Well the police were already suspicious of me and I did have a hard time earning money from a normal job… I wouldn't be able to buy my supplies that's for sure. I also would be going to the perfect hiding place.

Well than it is decided, I would be going against the police force and would be considered a danger to the average pokemon. Criminals would be my friends, and ironically, I would more likely be gathering more friends because a criminal doesn't care for looks, well unless they're kidnappers. I will steal the items I need and then head off through an abandoned dugstrio tunnel. Once out of the city I would head to the gates and plan ahead more there.

It took a while and I had a couple of close calls, but nothing major. In all honesty, stealing the food and gears from the shops was the easiest part of my plan. It may have been that my kin and type were made for sneaking around and doing dark deeds, but it doesn't matter. Finding an old dugstrio tunnel was easy enough, it just took a bit of searching. The hardest part was surviving the dungeons I ran into on the way here. I was almost caught by an exploration team, but another criminal had helped me, and just as I had predicted, he didn't care for my eyes. Once I had finally reached the gates I had almost collapsed out exhaustion. I found a safe place to hide and almost immediately fell asleep.

Clearly my brain works better after I had fully woken up, because instead of gathering some berries to eat for breakfast, I tiredly walked up to the gates and pushed them open without any resulting problems. By the time I had reached where the battle with the robots were, I had woken up and was looking for berries that the no-longer existing exploration team had dropped. There was surprisingly a large amount; I figure that it must be because they had other things on their minds at the time. Anyways, I had stumbled across the Robo-mon, as my mind had decided to call them, and I found they were actually quite simply built. Plans for using the parts I could save were already running through my head.

Shaking my head, I refocused myself on my goal. I stepped into the room and as the explorers had described it, there was a bed and a box. The walls looked weak and could be easily taken down because of the water dripping down from a crack in the ceiling. As I went through plans to get the place fixed up, I walked towards the box. I opened the box and saw the giant key. Seeing the key showed me what the Scolipede had meant by "most will not be able to pick it up". It looked like only those with opposable thumbs would be able to pick the key up, in other words human hands. Luckily I had such paws and could pick it up. It was black and had one straight side and one wavy side. As I did so I blacked out.

When I came to, the words 'You are the chosen one' went through my head. I had no idea what that meant, but it seemed to go along with the poems because they kept on going on about how only the chosen one will be able to use the key. I suppose they meant this giant key, and not the key to get through the gate. How were gates even able to sense emotions anyways? Whatever. It doesn't matter; they are still useful to me all the same.

I climbed into the bed thinking about how my new life would be. "_Maybe it won't be as bad as my old life",_ I thought as I fell to sleep.

_Present Time:_

I had spent the last five years, after finding the room after the last gate working hard. The first thing I had done was to hire a nameless criminal to fix up the room. I, deciding to copy this pokemon by not giving anyone my name, was called the phantom criminal. The reasoning of this was probably because soon after finding the key, I discovered it had special… properties. Not only would it materialize into my hand at my will, it could also unlock and lock and key. I was able to abuse this, and thus quickly enter and exit in a moment's notice. I would even lock myself in after entering to keep suspicions down. At first I was sloppy and every crime would have me almost caught. I even had to hide myself in the house for a day once. I soon became better, now I can enter a house steal some objects, and depending on their importance, they would never even know that anyone was there.

At first the exploration teams would give me some problems, but then I found a solution. The solution was so simple I was surprised that no one thought of it before. All I had to do was act like a victim of some crime and place in a report of such a problem. When they reached the place where the criminal was supposed to be, there would either be nothing there, or an ambush that would fight them off one by one. I had done this so often that not only were pokemon discouraged to become part of an exploration team, but they had to be at level 20 to actually be in one. Since no pokemon could even get that high of a level without joining a team, only the strong old teams operated. As soon as the leader quit, or died the team would usually disband or fall apart soon after. The best part of the solution was that it was so simple that anyone could do it. Eventually the police made it that pokemon below level 20 could and enter an exploration team, but it was finished. Other than the occasional team nothing was started and nobody became too strong. The best part was that since there was a lack of teams, the police actually went out and made arrest in the dungeons instead of just waiting for a team to so it. Since the police were all made up of the same pokemon and its evolutions, a criminal could easily take the police following them by entering a place were lots of savage fire types lived.

A year or two after I found the room I decided to become a leader of a group of villains. Some would join because the money I could get them, which was easy with my key and sneaking skills, others would join for the protection I offered for those joining the team. Especially since I had just caused the 20 level rule to come into existence. A few, usually the ones that became the strongest, joined because they were bored. With these pokemon I was easily able to make that I wouldn't have to be present for finishing off the exploration teams that still existed and I wouldn't have to pay them as much as I would pay a mercenary. Even the ambushes would work perfectly since I could have some agents see which team was coming and which pokemon would be ideal for fighting them. One time I had let the police come to me without interference. They made the offer to make it that I would not be exposed to the public as a threat in exchange for some information they thought I knew about the Phantom Criminal. I told them false information of course, and lead them on a wild goose chase.

Over all I would say the best thing I did in the five years was that when I surrounded myself with pokemon is that I learned that my ability to perform any move if I studied it long enough abnormal. Extremely abnormal. The only known pokemon that were able to do that were 'Xeno Lucario' and his friends. It was however rumored that legendary pokemon could also do this. It made me briefly wonder if I had known this Lucario in the past, but I pushed it away. If I had been a friend of such a pokemon it would have doubtlessly come to me during my years of traveling from place to place while searching for a place that wouldn't judge me for my eyes. The pokemon had probably been asked to end me anyways.

Okay now I know if I don't say this than there are going to be some people who are going to say "You idiot! Sneasels can't pick up things! They have claws for hands!

The pokedex clearly says that Sneasels have long sharp claws OVER their paws (or hands) for defense and offence.

They're sort of like a Wolverine (the fictional person, not the animal) that can't retract his claws.

r


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey it's Cyndaquil123 here. This chapter was written by GameManiac.**

**In other news I will now judge your fanfics. Basically I will judge your fanfiction and tell you how I think you could make it batter. If I end up loving the story, I'll put its name up here for people to read. So tell me if you want me to judge your fanfiction!**

**And now… THE CHAPTER**

**Chapter 4**

Ever since I left the Moor of Icirrus, ever since I began my journey south towards Castelia City, not a day has gone by where Cobalion, Terrakion, and Virizion have escaped my thoughts.

…Of course, it's not like enough days have gone by where I've begun to miss them as much as I would like to. It's only been a couple of days actually, with my steady gallops across the main routes of Unova.

Because, despite my planning beforehand (or is it "beforehoof" in my case?), despite having two Pokémon Trainer backpacks strapped firmly onto my sides and their innards filled to overflowing with Berries, medicinal items, and other Pokémon Trainer supplies—such as a couple of Escape Ropes—, It began to seem as though I was carrying extra weight for no benefit to myself. Of course, this didn't really bother me, and there were plenty of reasons for that.

I may not look like it to most stranger Pokémon, but I'm actually quite powerful for my small body. I'm like a Riolu or a Hawlucha when it comes to their strength-to-size ratio…if such a thing can even be measured by what it was that came off of the top of my head. I can definitely hold my own against larger Pokémon and I've definitely defeated a list of Pokémon that, on paper, should be able to overpower me by their size and their weight alone. Like that time when I fought against Kyurem in order to become a Sacred Swordsmen to myself and to my peers.

…Of course, that was only through the second time when I confronted that behemoth of a Dragon-Type Pokémon. Because the first time that I faced such an intimidating and such a powerful opponent, I _literally_ "pussied out", ran away, and my friends paid the price for my shameful cowardice by becoming Kyurem's ice sculptures.

Luckily for me though, they didn't die, or else I would've killed myself for my foolishness and my guilt. My comrades were freed, and I become a Sacred Swordsman, all thanks to the help of those three selfless humans and their loyal Pokémon when they found me in my time of need.

Ash, Cilan, and Iris… sometimes I wonder where they are now, and what they're doing.

They're probably enjoying themselves a delectable bowl of "human food". Especially Ash. We both have quite the voracious appetites, when I recall our time together. We even choked on our food at the same time, when we were both making like Swalot and having the food disappear within our mouths.

Luckily for me, I have plenty of food by my side, literally! And when it isn't by my side, it's _in_side my belly, in a scattered pile behind my wake (if you know what I mean…), or all around me, as a bounty from nature.

Every few hours or so, when I would pass by a Berry tree, I would knock some of its abundant produce down with an acrobatic leap and a quick swipe of my sharp horn. Then, for extra style points, I would gracefully land, open my backpack, and catch the succulent fruits before they could hit the ground. And most of the time, I caught them without fail, sometimes with my mane. Thankfully for me though, I wasn't picky about the ones that found themselves landing on the dirt, and I simply washed them off with my water hooves before picking them off of the ground with my mouth and making them a part of me with one single swallow.

So in short, while one of my backpacks remained unopened since I left the Moor of Icirrus, the other one has been exercised in opening and closing, stretching itself thin and wide in tandem to my expanding and shrinking stomach.

And during the couple of nights of my wandering solitude, I simply found shelter wherever I went. But ingeniously, I kept my distance from any potential obstacles to my mission, be they human or Pokémon. I simply water jumped myself up onto a high tree branch, balanced myself so that my belly and chin rested on wood, and left my legs and tail to dangle from the wood like clingy Seedot.

Of course, the first time that I tried this, I found myself waking up on the floor, my back to the grass, my hooves to the sky, my red mane ruffled all over my face, and my head aching a bit from what I'm certain was the result of my stirring in my sleep, and not the result of catching fruit. But thankfully for me, a mild headache and a slight bump on the back of my head—that my Ordinary Form's horn dwarfs—didn't influence my next night of sleep, and I learned from my error of yesterday night.

Surprisingly, the pair of Escape Ropes that I had in my possession proved to be unexpectedly useful, even though they were used ironically from their original purpose. Because even though they're intended for _escaping_ from caves, I used them to secure myself, as in the _opposite_ of escape.

I found myself using one of them to properly tie my body onto a tree branch, so that I wouldn't go anywhere if I found myself stirring in the middle of my sleep, or if I just so happened to lean over to my left or to my right, which is probably how I fell out of my temporary bed the other day.

And the best part about this idea is that I exhausted myself in trying to secure myself by using only my hooves and my mouth to make the knots on the Escape Rope. Because only Arceus knows why we hoofed Pokémon are cursed with a lack of opposable thumbs.

…Maybe if I blow into one of my hooves, I can make a few fingers and even a thumb appear on the other.

…

…Where in Arceus's name and to the credibility of my title did _that_ impossible thought come from?

Today was officially the third day since I had left my home and my family/friends. And after dining on a healthy breakfast of juicy Sitrus Berries for energy and a few Lum Berries for nutrition, I continued my progress south, to the city where I saw the sky grow dark from the natural effects of a solar eclipse, and then glow violet with the bizarre light of that purple, six-sided star.

As I continued to make my way down through the land of Unova, while making sure that I stayed close to the water that flowed through this region like blood through veins (my affinity for water, I know…), I found myself entering a forest of some kind. And thanks to a sign that humanity has left for their norm to overlook, I stopped directly in front of it, made my pale ass meet grass, and gazed at its limitless wisdom.

PINWHEEL FOREST

I found myself tilting my body back and forth to look at the forest that resided behind this sign. And while I didn't feel like I was doing so, I was looking with my eyes half open.

"(Leave it to humans to state the obvious, and then stick on a word that doesn't exactly describe this place.)"

With that, I abandoned the "limitless wisdom" of this sign and made my way into the Pinwheel Forest. And as I did so, one word entered my mind several times, more so than "_pinwheel_" anyway…

That word was "nostalgia". And the reason for that is because some time ago, before Cobalion, Terrakion, and Virizion came together to become the Swords of Justice, this was where Virizion once lived and called home.

…Only now, with the four of us together for most of the time, the word "home" is used loosely amongst us. We honestly just roam around Unova as we please, seeing the sights, seeing if anything has changed and needs to be updated within our memories, seeing if there's a helpless Pokémon that needs saving. And that "Helpless Pokémon" could be anything, from a frightened little Pokémon fleeing from evil pursuers, or a Meowth stuck on top of a tree.

There are actually a lot of those assignments, for us four Sacred Swordsmen. And while that's most certainly not a bad thing for the widespread reputation of our shared titles, it just might be for our skills.

You see, I've grown a little rusty several months after I've become a Sacred Swordsman. And as a result of that, I've found myself using my signature SECRET SWORD attack less and less, to the point where I now find myself in my Ordinary Form most of the time. I can still very much _use_ SECRED SWORD and transform into my stronger Resolute Form. But such a thing, as I've become used to, only happens when I'm in a heated battle. Not _quite_ a battle at the extreme levels that I experienced when I clashed my "horn sword" with Kyurem, but a match where my heart races and I begin to find myself panting and sweating.

…

Speaking of sweating…

When I made my way deeper through Pinwheel Forest, enough so where the towering skyscrapers of Castelia City loom even from here, I don't know why, but I found myself feeling slightly nervous. Enough so where I could feel my red mane become a bit more luscious than it normally is.

Why is that exactly? Is it because I was feeling, deep down within myself, a bit uneasy about what I might confront?

If that's the case, then it's not at all surprising. After all, I don't think I'm the first Pokémon to be unnerved of the thought of the sky turning dark, and then changing colors to something _other_ than a blue as light in shade as that of my tail and fluffy fur around my neck and over my pectorals.

But for the sky to _actually_ turn purple… Is that even possible? I mean, perhaps it is, if Arceus feasted a face full of fermented fruit and felt that flickering the firmament's flat would be funny (what do you know about the letter "F"?).

I suppose, in the end, I just don't know if what I saw in my dream could actually occur in reality. Or, perhaps more likely, if what I saw in my dream was just that. A dream. A figment of my imagination.

But I wouldn't be trotting clockwise halfway around Unova if I disregarded my dream. After all, I had that same dream replay within my mind too many times, give or take a slightly different scenario in between the beginnings and endings. And just last night, I had that dream play through my mind _again_. The only difference was that the "Xeno" Lucario was there with me, guiding me like a blue angel.

…!

Before I knew it, I was halted in my tracks and my train of thought was cut off at what I saw appear in front of me.

Maybe "appear" was too misplaced a word here. I think "collapse" better describes this.

Almost automatically, I found myself saying "Who are you?" before I took a moment to look down and better inspect what it was that made my words a bit redundant at that moment.

I saw a Vulpix, a youngling, most likely female just based from the way her throat squeezed and whined like a punctured accordion whenever she took a breath. She…didn't appear in the best of shape either. She looked like she had run a marathon, because her body was drenched in her own sweat, which made her fur look oily and faded even. But I noticed that it still looked as red as it should be in small areas, but that was only because of the dried blood that seeped out of some of her external bruising, which were all symmetrically aligned in the way that only happens if something tried to take a _bite_ out of you.

I found myself focused much more on her constitution rather than the purple gem that she appeared to have worn around her like a collar.

Overall, she _defined_ the word "fear" in my mind, from the way her ribs flexed with her every hyperventilation and from the look in her dilated eyes when they looked up at me, an unquestionable stranger and exotic sight around these parts. But even here, as this Vulpix was collapsed on the grass and looking on at me, as my shadow was cast over her, I could tell that she wasn't feeling fear towards me.

She was feeling fear towards what lurked behind her, what resided within the underbrush directly in front of me.

When this enemy appeared, I immediately identified this adversary as a Houndoom, an aggressive male, and one that was no doubt very pissed off at this fatigued and frightened Vulpix.

"There you are, you troublesome bitch!" Houndoom snarled as I saw him glare at target, stalking her. "There's no more escape for you from me and my—!"

There it was, in Houndoom's eyes. There was that look that he gave me when he suddenly noticed my presence over this helpless Pokémon. And whatever words and whatever frustration Houndoom had earlier in the narrow time frame that he exposed to me, it disappeared and was replaced with curiosity and a lack of action when his mind went absent at what he didn't know what to do.

Then I heard another voice coming in further within Pinwheel Forest, alongside some running. And before I knew it, I saw what appeared to be a human being, dressed almost entirely in black, save for a big red "R" in the center of his torso,

"(…Oh crap…)" I thought to myself at what I knew that infamous red "R" belonged to.

"Honestly, you worthless mutt?" I heard this man begin to scold his Houndoom. "You had one job. I give you one simple task to accomplish and I come here and find out that you've stopped in your tracks before our target and—!"

There it is again, in this "Team Rocket" man's eyes, the same look that he was now sharing with his Houndoom, that same mental absence at seeing me, someone that was so foreign to them and so…rare.

…Did I have something on my nose? Was that why they were ogling me so attentively? Then again, I don't really need to have anything _on_ my nose for onlookers to look at it. I have an abnormally large proboscis after all, as though I was stung by a Beedrill and the swelling didn't leave me.

I'm not sure why Arceus gave me a nose like this. Maybe my God forsook me when He…She…It made me. Or maybe Arceus was drunk when It added the final touches to my nose.

My mind returned to "Realityland" from "Daydreamland", and I could see a smile form on that evil man's face, after he had seen me long enough and accepted who I am.

"Well, well, well. This is something that I don't see every day." He began to monologue. "I came here in search of that elusive Vulpix, so that I could claim that stone in her possession."

I swear, I could see a glimmer in that avaricious man's eyes right now, if I squinted my eyes and concentrated on them.

"But I find out that the Vulpix was just the first step to the yellow brick road that led me to _this_ grand prize." His eyes widened some more when he emphasized his last few words. "One of the four Swords of Justice: The Colt Pokémon Keldeo."

It didn't take a genius to realize that this man saw me as a trophy, and a prestigious one at that. And as for the Vulpix that he mentioned before, I could feel the little rascal hide behind my back left leg, cling onto it tightly, and was no doubt still trembling from the mere presence of her pursuers, while looking on at them as though they were evil incarnate.

This "Rocket" man then looked over to his pet Houndoom. "What the hell are you waiting for? Attack Keldeo!"

"…" Houndoom, despite receiving a direct order from his "master", simply stayed put, intimidated by me and having second thoughts in attacking me.

That's not very surprising actually. I'm not exactly a common Rattata. I'm one of the four Swords of Justice, and all four of us are Legendary Pokémon. So with those two titles alone that I carry on my shoulders like a pair of wrestling championship belts, there's enough of a wall between me and my opponent that I don't exactly have to do anything in terms of confronting my hindered opponent.

That being said however…

"So help me, if you don't obey my command…" The greedy human began to threaten his own Pokémon. "Then I will see to it that I personally feed you to my Boss's Steelix! And it'll swallow you whole _regardless_ of whether it's hungry or not!"

Fear tactics. So that's this man's game. And if that's the case, then there's only one thing that I can do to try and convince this man that what he's doing is wrong.

"(This probably won't work, but it's a good excuse to dust off my use of telepathy.)"

I could see the man staring daggers at his intimidated Houndoom, no doubt already imagining him being ingested by "my Boss's Steelix" for his "defiance". So when the "R" man was just about to curse that Pokémon out again, I cut him off.

And his reaction upon hearing my voice was absolutely priceless.

"_Testing…one, two, three…one, two, three…testing._" I said, blowing the Spinarak webs off one of my abilities.

That caught this man's attention, especially because I was now speaking his language.

"Did you just…talk?!" He said in awe of me.

"_(*Tap*tap*tap*) Is this thing on?_" I added in the sounds that you would get if you tap a microphone to test if it's working. And yes, you can add distinctive sound effects to your telepathy, but no one ever seems to bother doing that. I don't know why. It can be fun sometimes.

I glanced down at the Vulpix clinging to my hoof and I can tell that she was puzzled by my unexpected abilities by the curious way that she was now looking at me.

Then again…she could be just looking at my nose. Hard to tell, when it consumes the lower fourth of my perspective.

"_Okay…ahem!_" I cleared my mental throat and then began speaking to my "worthy adversaries". "_I don't know what it was that you did to this Vulpix that made her so fearful for her life, but it's clear to me that she doesn't deserve this much grief._"

Like a clop of my hoof, this man's expression changed from astonishment back to his malevolent professionalism.

"This doesn't concern you, 'Sacred' Swordsman." He addressed me formally, albeit mocking my occupation deliberately. "My business is with what rightfully belongs to me! And that is what resides around the neck of that _bitch_!"

The purple stone. That's what he was referring to, because I glimpsed it a few times prior when taking note of her physical constitution.

"That…that's a lie!" She shouted, the Vulpix behind me shouted, her voice still weak from her debilitated health, but she somehow managed.

Both I and the Houndoom looked at her now, as she was looking at the Team Rocket Grunt that looked back at her.

"Th-this stone…doesn't belong…to you!" She continued. "It b-belongs…to my father… And you h-have…absolutely no right…to take what…isn't yours…to begin w-with!"

This was new information to me, and it actually vaguely explained to me how this Vulpix ended up in this scenario. But at the same time, there was just one thing that I needed to confirm with her.

I looked down at her as she looked up at me, at my nose. "_Are you speaking the truth, fair lass?_" I said deliberately with telepathy.

She was still shaking from fear, but there was still no mistaking a nod forming on her frightened little head.

"_That's all I needed to hear._" I added, before stepping forward, away from her and towards her enemies.

"Wait…w-what are you doing?" She continued to struggle to speak.

"Doing my job." I said honestly and without looking back, having heard enough from both sides to establish my verdict and make my course of action.

If I looked behind my back again, I'm certain that I would've seen the damsel in distress begin to shed a tear or two of genuine happiness for my decision to stand by her in her time of need. But because I had to keep my attention put on my enemies now, I couldn't exactly drop my guard for a moment and look back at my injured punter. All I could do now was stand between the Vulpix and her enemies, and keep them away from her with the best of my abilities.

This could not have been more one-sided.

"What did she tell you?" My human opponent asked me.

"_Excuse me?_" I asked him to repeat himself.

"What did she tell you, to make you do what she can't possibly do in her current condition?" His tone of voice grew darker, muck like his disposition.

"_That doesn't concern you._" I put it bluntly, knowing that he would just twist the truth into a lie of his deceitful acceptance.

When he saw me crouch down and tilt my head a little lower as I entered a fighting stance, his frustration was made clear to me, for a few seconds anyway. Then, he took a deep breath and smiled at me.

"Fair enough. I see now that the time for words has passed." He said calmly before holding out his right hand and clasping his thumb and middle finger together. "Houndoom, burn my little pony to a crisp with one of your FLAMETHROWER attacks."

A snap of his finger flipped the switch on in Houndoom's choice of actions, and I could see the Dark Pokémon open his jaws wide and inhale sharply, sparks of fire beginning to collect and channel around his fireproof maw.

But I didn't even give Houndoom the opportunity to breathe fire at me. Because like a gunslinger of the west, I drew the barrel of my front right hoof at my target, quick fired one single HYDRO PUMP, and all of Houndoom and his extinguished fire were sent careening back towards a tree.

When Houndoom's back met thick wood, the trunk of it cracked and split apart as though a lumberjack had taken one mighty swing of it with an axe. And as for Houndoom himself, while he wasn't dead because I only exerted a fraction of my power with one of my multitude of Water-Type attacks, there was certainly a dazed, almost derpy look on this Pokémon's face, when he collapsed in a broken heap of himself.

There was a similarly dazed look on the countenance of his "Master" as he double-took between me and the outcome of his Pokémon.

All I did was taunt to the human my effortless victory by holding my soused hoof up to my mouth, licked once away the drops of water that were still dibbling out of it, as though it were the barrel to a smoking gun.

"_Had enough yet?_" I said, with a bored tone of mental voice.

I could almost see a swollen vein protrude from this angry man's forehead at what I knew I did, which was unquestionably deliver a frustrating setback to his narrow-minded goals.

That being said however, he was far from giving up. Because before my eyes, he assimilated his fainted Houndoom back into one of those man-made "Poké Ball" contraptions, and then replaced him with another Poké Ball in his possession.

"I've only just begun." The man said with a venomous tone of voice. "There's more where my Houndoom came from."

He threw his second Poké Ball high into the air and it opened when it reached the pinnacle of its trajectory. Then, the contents of that Poké Ball appeared in the form of a red light before settling in front of me and dematerializing before my eyes.

In the Rocket Grunt's hand, his Poké Ball returned. And before me was his second Pokémon.

It was an Arbok, and a hostile one at that, coiled around itself and ogling me as though I were to be its next meal. And based on its size over my own, such a voracious feat would be possible. But as long as I lived, breathed, and fired water out of my quadruple-barreled hooves, that will never happen.

I heard some rustling behind my back, and I turned briefly to notice that the Vulpix that I'm defending had taken shelter within the foliage. I briefly glanced at her to notice that she was still very much staring on at us through a partial gap in the underbrush, but she had enough common sense to take proper cover.

That was a good thing, because I didn't want her to get caught in the crossfire of our attacks.

And speaking of attacks…

"Arbok, use ACID SPRAY!"

Unlike his Houndoom, which hesitated to attack me because of how different I was to the Pokémon norm, this Arbok had no such thoughts. It immediately glared at me as though I were this month's main course, opened its jaws, and sprayed corrosive venom directly from the tips of its fangs.

I didn't hesitate to step back in order to avoid the venom from this serpentine adversary. The venom that was fired at me missed its mark, and began to eat away at the ground from which it landed. I only looked at this disturbing sight for a moment, before addressing the human I was indirectly fighting.

"_I bet Arbok gives the best _kisses_, doesn't it?_" I said sarcastically.

"She gives the best _hugs_ too." He responded to my sarcasm with his own. "Don't be shy. Give her some love!"

"(That Arbok's a girl?)" I kept my surprise inwardly.

"Arbok, use WRAP!"

Like a spring, Arbok's speed when sprung was immediate, and I found myself jumping up to avoid over eleven feet of Cobra Pokémon from giving me the "best" Beartic hug of my life.

But then that Arbok reacted immediately to my move, as though she saw this coming. She coiled her long, slender body back into a spring, and "jumped" right at me.

I didn't even have a chance to see this coming before I found myself "hugged" by this freakishly large Pokémon and dragged back down to the ground.

Because I couldn't move my head away from facing Arbok right in her slit eyes, I'm sure the look on the Grunt's face when I've succumbed to Arbok's WRAP attack was the equivalent of having looked at an unclaimed gold mine. And I'm sure that the look on Vulpix's face was one of fear, for seeing me in my supposedly last moments before I was captured and made part of Team Rocket, or perhaps disappear head first down this Pokémon's gastrointestinal tract.

But the sad truth, for my enemy anyway, was that I was only _feigning_ capture by this Arbok. And even though I was definitely feeling the pain from Arbok's tight coils around my body, I've yet to feel the suffocating effects that followed shortly afterward.

And because of this Pokémon's owner, that strategy wasn't his intention.

…The idiot.

"Now use CRUNCH, and aim for the jugular!" He said almost euphorically.

Once again, I could see Arbok open her jaws at me, and I could see her serrated teeth and iconic fangs drip saliva, like water from stalactites in a cave. And if I concentrated on her ringed throat, I swear I could peer into it and see her elongated stomach.

But before she had the satisfaction of giving me a "kiss", I made sure I gave her one of my own. Although I can't exactly call it a kiss, because it was more like a drink.

Aiming for the inside of her throat, the tip of my horn began to fizzle with water energy, and I aimed one blast of SCALD at the most vulnerable area that Arbok so foolishly made gaping before me.

Instead of tasting my neck, the she-scaly only tasted water, water that was well over boiling temperature, and she felt the forceful attack roll right down her massive throat, down her esophagus, and even down her trachea.

Naturally, her response to feeling the hyperbolic equivalent of having swallowed a mouthful of lava was to immediately uncoil herself (freeing me), lurch away, and writhe in pain from my decisive action.

Thankfully for her, I showed her enough mercy to spare her any further pain.

All it took was a pair of hind leg kicks across her skull, courtesy of my DOUBLE KICK attack.

And then she laid there, down for the count, breathing shallowly through her traumatized windpipe, but breathing nevertheless.

And then she disappeared, back into the Grunt's Poké Ball.

And as for my enemy's facial expression, despite having sustained two pathetic losses back to back, he still had his spiteful glare trained on at me. But this time, there was something different about his countenance. There was an elevated level of determination now…almost _unnaturally_ elevated. It was as though this man was committed now to see me contained in a Poké Ball.

Which, in turn, meant that he wasn't done yet.

With an unsettling smile now curling across his cheeks, he retrieved one more Poké Ball, but this one was aesthetically different. It had a black top and a white bottom, with a yellow "H" noticeable on the upper hemispherical surface.

"_…An Ultra Ball?_" I asked, only knowing the identity of this particular Poké Ball model through my experience with the lost and found stash in the Moor of Icirrus.

This time, this man was eerily silent. And instead of giving me a remark, he simply gave his Ultra Ball a gentle toss, letting it roll along the dirt before me, as though he had pulled the pin off of a grenade and allowed it to roll towards his enemies.

And much like a grenade, the Ultra Ball suddenly "exploded", and the next thing that I knew, I found myself looking up, at a monstrosity of a Pokémon that cast its shadow down on me.

…A Tyranitar, scarred in body, having most definitely seen its share of combat. Or perhaps torture, considering the dark origins of this particular specimen.

"STONE EDGE!" I heard a command behind this behemoth's back.

Perfectly loyal to his or her, or _its_ (I'm not bothering with genders for this brute), the Armor Pokémon buried both of its arms into the earth, all the way down to…_its_ shoulders, and I could feel the ground beneath my hooves cry out in pain.

Then, without much strain or effort in this beast's part, Tyranitar pulled its arms back out, and tore off two chunks of sharpened solid rock that now surrounded its arms and acted as gauntlets. Dirt flew away from this titan of power as a result of its assault on the ground beneath us.

To any other Pokémon, this would no doubt make them tuck in their tail and flee for their lives. And I'm sure that the Vulpix would've done so if she had seen this Pokémon pursue her. But I looked back for a split second to see her still peeping her head through the shrub that she's taken shelter in.

Perhaps she was frozen in disbelief at what she was seeing. Or perhaps she was interested in seeing me fight. Or perhaps she was _still_ staring at my nose. It was hard to say right now, since I can't exactly abandon my pair of opponents/enemies and go ask her at the moment. All I can presently do is what I do best.

And that's kick some ass and chew gum.

…Only I don't chew gum.

"You don't seem frightened of me, little Colt Pokémon." Tyranitar growled at me, like an earthquake.

"Eh…I've fought bigger beasts." I said normally, with no feelings of intimidation, and deliberately left out the name "Kyurem".

My new opponent has a short temper, because I found it immediately lift one of its arms up and slam it down on its target. But I back flipped out of harm's way and counterattacked with SACRED SWORD, my horn elongating with pure energy as I cut it across Tyranitar's torso.

Unsurprisingly, Tyranitar staggered back at a blow that, under the laws of Pokémon Type Attributes, should have caused it to collapse. But this Pokémon was hardier than it looked—if such a thing was physically possible—and it would take a few more strikes to fell it.

…Or at least make it faint.

Tyranitar gave off one earth-trembling roar that snapped the neck of sound itself and lunged at me with both STONE EDGE arms, hoping to impale me…or something. But all that I did to counter this show of straightforward, stale strength was acrobatically leap high over its head, front flip, and leave another slice on its back.

This time, Tyranitar didn't wish to show weakness, and its frustration made it swing away recklessly, without any care for a defense.

But from my perspective, Tyranitar might as well have been moving in slow motion, because every horizontal sweep and vertical smash to earth was easily avoided by my sideways strafes and nimble leaps.

Until, at one point, I came in for another SACRED SWORD attack, and Tyranitar met it with both of its STONE EDGE arms. And from here, it became a test of strength, between the brute force from a Dark-Type/Rock-Type, and sheer discipline from a Fighting-Type/Water-Type.

And as most Pokémon Trainers would know, I had the advantage here, and it began to show in our little standoff.

Tyranitar's two STONE EDGE attacks began to give at the strain from being pressed down onto my SACRED SWORD, and began to crack away as my blade began to dig its way deeper, and deeper, and deeper.

Until I had undoubtedly won this stalemate, and Tyranitar narrowly risked having its own hands cut off when my energy blade worked its way through solid rock.

And as Tyranitar recoiled back from the perplexing thought of having David thwart Goliath in a test of strength, I delivered the final blow.

…Right through Tyranitar's belly and out its back.

When my SACRED SWORD disappeared, blood began to steadily seep out of both ends of Tyranitar's wound, in a pitter patter that comes only when you sever an artery. I stepped back in time to avoid this much discharging red and see Tyranitar fall back in a heap of itself. I only had a split second to catch its hollow countenance before seeing the Armor Pokémon be returned to its Ultra Ball, almost _hastily_, considering the serious injury that I inflicted upon it.

I looked back at the Rocket Grunt and, interestingly enough, he was in a cold sweat now.

"_I take it that was your 'Trump Card' Pokémon?_"

He said nothing. He remarked me with nothing. He knew I defeated him and left him with nothing to defeat me with. But that being said, he was still an agent from a malicious crime syndicate, and I should fully expect any hostile action he might make towards me, because I'm a rare Pokémon.

No matter how…pathetic.

As a last resort, he tossed a Poké Ball at me, with all of his strength, in a vain attempt to capture me. And as a reminder to him of how desperate he truly is, I cleaved the incoming capsule in two, with another SACRED SWORD, and had both halves fall apart by my side.

Left with nothing, the next action that this man did was one that Team Rocket does best.

He blasted off again, by hightailing it out of here and away from me. And, more importantly, away from the Vulpix that he had his eyes set on, because of the purple stone around her neck.

…Speaking of which, I should go see how the Fox Pokémon is doing.

At first, I walk towards her backwards, making sure that the Rocket Grunt was indeed fleeing away from here. And when I'm absolutely certain that there was no chance of his return, I discarded my attention away from that narrow-minded man and towards the damsel in distress.

Recalling how she took shelter in the brush, I noticed that she had shrouded herself entirely within it, making it impossible to identify her. So to get her attention, I got down to my hocks and my knees, trying to make myself appear as close down to her level of height so that I don't startle her, in case she feels apprehensive of me. I wait by the bush and, with my chin now touching the grass of the dirt floor, I call out to her.

"Are you still in there, Vulpix?" I speak softly. "The threat has passed. He fled after I defeated him and his Pokémon. You're safe and sound now. There's no one here now to harm you. It's only me now to concern over you and your wellbeing."

For a few seconds, there was silence. During that silence, I thought that she had either escaped here when she had the chance and I was now talking to a plant, or that she had passed out from her ordeal and that I should pick her out of the shrubbery.

But it was actually _neither_ of those two possibilities. A third possibility that I didn't account for became apparent to me.

In short, it was when I saw red, felt a pleasant, yet muddled fur coat, and smelled what could best be described as an amalgam of dirt, fear and sweat.

(*Sniff*Sniff*)… Oh wait, there was something else in there too.

"Thankyouthankyouthankyou!" She began to say to my ear, over and over and over, entirely ecstatic and in my debt. "Yousavedmylifewheneverybodyelsewasaftermeandmyfather'spreciousstone! Thankyouthankyouthankyou!"

She was speaking so fast and hugging my face (and snout) so affectionately that even if I wanted to say anything, it would fall on deaf ears. So I just sat there and waited for this moment to pass.

Though personally, I was enjoying this gratitude so much that I didn't want it to end on my terms. It was like being licked in the face by a Lillipup. And no matter how tough someone is or appears to be, there was no denying the gay, innocent love that came in the form of an adorable canine happily licking away at your face.

Eventually though, she did stop, and I saw Vulpix standing short from my face, wagging her six tails like a fan, eyeing me happily after I had just saved her life.

…Hmm, it's funny how some analogies are spot-on like that.

"I'll take it that you're eternally grateful?" I asked, even though it's a rhetorical question.

She didn't really hesitate to answer my question either, because she gave me a nod.

"You're very welcome." I said with a smile, before getting up to a sitting posture. "It was the least that I could—"

Before I knew it, the Vulpix that I saw happily wagging her tail and growing attached to my company suddenly had her eyes withdraw into her skull. And then she passed out and fell to the floor, the magnitude of her compound injuries and fatigue finally growing to a weight that was too much for her delicate body to bear.

…And I found myself staring at her fainted body for an extended period of time, with the smile that I had when I was returning the thanks.

"…Shit…" I found myself muttering under my breath, before I sprung into action.

Knowing that time was of the essence for the overall wellbeing of this Pokémon's health, I reached into one of my backpacks, the one that contained the various medicinal supplies that, coincidentally enough, are ideal for this scenario.

Fristly, I retrieved the spray bottle with the word "Potion" on it and dexterously aligned it, in my mouth, so that my tongue was coiled around the neck of the bottle, the nozzle end was to the left of my mouth, and the trigger was within reach of my teeth.

…Yes, I know it's unsanitary. But I can't exactly _hold_ it with my hands, because I don't _have_ hands.

So anyway, with the bottle, I made sure I sprayed down Vulpix's external wounds, particularly that inflamed bite mark that, by my speculations, were given to her by the Houndoom that most likely chased her down.

"(She's lucky that Houndoom only bit her, and that she's a Fire-Type Pokémon,)" I thought, spraying this liquid healing tonic on her injured body until there was nothing left in this surprisingly shallow bottle. "(Because if she was _burned_ by Houndoom's fire, then there's a particular toxicity to those flames that supposedly never goes away.)"

With the bottle emptied, I replaced it for another item, one which would snap this Vulpix out of her fainted status immediately.

The potion in my teeth, in a flash, was replaced with a pale, diamond-shaped Revive item. And with this interestingly shaped pill, I've heard through other Pokémon how this pill works.

Basically, there were two routes that this revive can enter where it'll dissolve within the target and bless them with its medicinal effects. And to keep the medical lingo simple, this item can enter either the front door…or the back door.

…I'm not _that_ kind of Pokémon, and luckily for me, I'm not _that_ desperate. So into the mouth this Revive pill will go.

However, this presented itself with another dilemma to me. Because Arceus found it oh so humorous to not give me hands, or bless me with telekinetic abilities, I had to get creative in getting her to ingest this Revive.

And within my mind, I only saw one option, though it was hard to say if this was a bad thing or not when I thought about it.

"(I've been hugged and licked by women already today.)" I thought, feeling myself begin to grow red at these recollections. "(And after this, I'll check off 'kissed' to my growing list.)"

Starting to feel like every second counted, I gently flipped Vulpix over until she was comfortable on her back, her snout to the sky, and her face still comatose. And with the Revive tablet still secured onto my dental grip, I bent down and "kissed" Vulpix, dexterously moving my mouth and my tongue alongside her own, to make sure that she swallowed this recovery item.

And then after giving her the "Kiss of Life", I just waited patiently for the Revive pill to take effect.

I didn't exactly wait long though, because those man-made medications are fast acting to us Pokémon. And shortly after the "kiss", her eyes lit back on and she stirred back onto her feet, feeling as healthy and as energetic as a hatchling.

She yawned cutely before noticing me standing there, waiting patiently for her. "W-was I asleep or something?"

No point in hiding the truth from her. "You actually passed out. That's not surprising, considering the extent of your overall ordeal."

All of a sudden, her sleepy demeanor disappeared, and she began to act as though one of her tails was cut off. "I w-was…unconscious?"

"Uh-huh. But not to worry, fluffy." I reassured her, before reaching into one of my two backpacks and showing her another diamond-shaped Revive lozenge, and then tucking it back away so that I can talk. "I sprayed you down with a Potion bottle to disinfect your cuts and bruises and help them heal faster, and then I administered to you that Revive pill, snapping you out of your little coma."

Her next question came with some curiosity on the latter of my subject. "H-how did you give me a Revive?"

"I kissed you." I said with a blush, a smile, and a small laugh.

Whatever affection and thankfulness she had for me disappeared alongside her skin color through her tainted, crimson fur. Her eyes widened, her ears and tail dropped, and her lips soured. And if it wasn't for the fur on her face, I'm certain that she was blushing for what I did to her.

…For what I was forced to do to her, given the scenario.

"Don't give me that look," I said innocently, finding her face to be somewhat funny. "It was either that or, and I'll be frank with you, use this Revive as a suppository and stuff it inside your little bum. But that would've meant getting my mouth dirty, depending on your _needs_, and I'm just going to shut my mouth up right now before I say something scarring."

Now she tucked her six tails under herself, and I'm certain her fur grew paler than normal.

"You…y-you pervert!" She addressed me, feeling her privacy shatter like glass.

"I'm genderless." I reminded her. "And I don't exactly have any _hands_. See?"

I waved both of my front hooves at her, to prove my point, and then I continued on with my debunking of her shallow claims.

"Besides, I didn't _have_ to save you." I added.

That snapper her back into the topic at hand…er, hoof…and paw.

"Then…then why d-did you save me?" She said quietly, waiting for my response.

And my response could not have been more natural and from my honest, righteous heart.

"It is both my job and my passion to come to the aid of Pokémon that require it. You found yourself at the wrong place, yet at the right time, and encountered me. I asked you some simple questions to analyze your side of the story. Though I didn't really have to, because I know for a fact that Team Rocket is bad news, and any Pokémon running away from them is doing so to save their lives. And also, you mentioned how that purple stone around your neck belonged to your father, so I knew that it didn't _truly_ belong to that man. But he _did_ want it and had his eyes set on it, for reasons that I should _only_ know if you feel comfortable opening yourself up to that topic to a total stranger, such as myself."

Like a window, she opened herself up to me. And the tension that she had towards me, for actions that were against my power in enacting on, dissipated like the heat when the cool afternoon breeze seeped through.

"F…f…f-foxfire…" She mumbled shyly.

I almost thought she was going to drop an "F-bomb" on me. "Come again?"

"…F-foxfire." She said, a bit more audible. "M-my name is…Foxfire."

"Keldeo," I returned the gesture. "But you most likely overheard my name when I conversed with our enemy."

She nodded, and she appeared much more accepting and approachable to me. "Do you have a n-nickname, Keldeo?"

I didn't think she'd ask me this subject, and I didn't expect to have this question ricochet back to me. But I didn't bother lying about it to her. "I used to, but I outgrew it."

"What was it?" She asked, curious now.

I became dramatic, my eyes narrowed, and my tone of voice grew somber. "…Pinocchio…"

One retake of my nose and before I knew it, Foxfire was on her back, laughing her tails off. I looked down at her and, despite her laughing at my snout, I still found myself smiling. Because I knew she had been through enough as is, from what I know and from what she's yet to tell me. And a little laughter does a body and soul good.

After all, laughter is the best medicine.

…Yet _another_ analogy that is spot on.

When she stopped laughing, I changed the subject, and focused more on the Pokémon that I rescued.

"Do you live here or something?"

She simply shook her head at me. "My home and m-my father are at Castelia City."

"Really?" I said in surprise, thinking that she was just a denizen of Pinwheel Forest and that Team Rocket just saw her—or her "collar"—as a prize for them to claim.

"…?" She looked at me and questioned my reaction.

"Would you believe that I was on my way towards Castelia?" I told her.

"Is that so?" She responded with a bit of astonishment. "W-why is that?"

"I can tell you along the way." I said, before getting up and off of my fat rump and turning around to face the towering city across the horizon. "And just to make sure that you have a safe return there, I'll _personally_ escort you. Because I'm sure that Team Rocket hasn't given up their search for you and for that purple stone of yours, and I'm certain that your father is worried sick of your reluctant absence."

I can practically see the fire light back up in her eyes, when she got up on all fours and her tail was wagging happily towards me.

"I'll take it you're ready to go, then?"

"I just hope t-that I don't become…a burden to you."

With that, we were off, towards Skyarrow Bridge and to Castelia City. But we didn't even manage to take a few steps forward before I heard what was unmistakably the sound of a light body being caught by the ground.

I about-faced to quickly note that Foxfire had collapsed and was getting up feebly back onto her four paws. But no sooner had she done that, she collapsed again, face intimately reunited with the floor. Only this time, I rushed right over and used my bulbous nose to catch her.

And then, with her belly on my snout, I lifter her up and proceeded to put her into one of my backpacks.

"Y-you don't have to…" She said with a bit of fatigue and weakness in her voice. "I can walk and—"

"Correction: _I_ can walk. You'll just fall on your face again if you take another step forward."

She wanted to argue against me, but I had already tucked her away within the backpack that contained the assorted Berries that I had gathered over the course of my trek here.

"You're still weak and exhausted from your stressful ordeal earlier, and it would be wise of you to reclaim your lost strength. Just let me do the walking and you do the relaxing. Is that clear?"

Her response to me didn't come with a "yes" or "no" answer. Her response came when she dug her way deeper into my strapped backpack, her movements somewhat tickling my sides because she was in so close of proximity to me through the durable fabric. I simply heard her stuff a few Berries into her mouth, happily mumble at the deliciousness of these miracle fruits, and continue eating them as long as she was able to.

"I'll take that as a yes."

With my cargo and a passenger in tow, I hightailed it from Pinwheel Forest, all the way to Skyarrow Bridge. But instead of taking the scenic route, where the majority of the public were navigating across, either on the center road of the bridge where Pokémon and people walked or on the two-way highway where cars and trucks of all shapes and sizes were crossing to and fro from, I took a different route entirely.

Because I felt it best to remain incognito, due to my rarity when compared to the Pokémon norm, I took advantage of my abilities and crossed the water without using the bridge at all.

All I did was make like a Surskit and tread over the water. And with my characteristics, galloping across water was no different than galloping across land.

And in retrospect, I could not have made a wiser decision.

All across the water, as far as I could see, the only boats in close proximity of me were miles off, and would remain so for some time, even if I were to just remain put on the water's surface. And on the Skyarrow Bridge _itself_, when I looked up at the activity that was going on above me, I could hear the faint sounds of police sirens going by, one after the other after the other.

"(Sounds like that Rocket Grunt won't be getting far from them.)" I thought, certain that the humans could handle where I left off with him, and that he'll be punished for his wrongdoings.

Feeling Vulpix stir to my side, I looked at her to notice that she was doing what I did seconds ago, and look up and hear the police sirens going by. And on her face, I could tell she had a look of satisfaction on her face, of what she thought that I just thought.

…Of course, she could have that same look after having eaten about a dozen or so Berries on my possession.

Soon after though, her attention turned towards me.

"W-why did you say that you were on your way to Castelia City?" She asked me.

"_It's a bit of a long story,_" I said with my mind, because my mouth was occupied with the exercise that I was getting in crossing this body of water. "_But since I'll be running here for a while, I might as well tell you it in full._"

"I'm l-listening." She responded, willing to her my logic.

With a nod, I understood her curiosity and I began to explain myself. But because _you've_ heard this story already a few times over, I'll just give you the summarized version of it.

Blah blah blah my recurring dream. Talk talk talk solar eclipse. Yadda yadda yadda purple sky. Speak speak speak six-sided star in the sky.

And after explaining to her, to the best of my abilities, what it is that I saw in my dream, she returned the favor and told me one that she had recently.

And to make a long story short, it was just as bizarre as my own, especially the part where the majority of her dream was similar to my own, save for the fact that it didn't reoccur at all and was just a one-time deal, as well as what Pokémon she saw in her dream.

"_A Pokémon with a long, purple horn, was it?_" I repeated her words.

"Yes…" Foxfire confirmed for me. "Do you know of any Pokémon like that?"

I thought about it for a moment, but the closest that I could think of was me in my Resolute Form. But my horn in that mode is a _dark blue_ color, not purple.

…Then again, my horn _might_ turn purple if I found myself being asphyxiated by a formidable foe. But it's hard to tell when I can't see my own forehead and my own horn that well.

So with a shake of my head, I answered her question.

"_Not that I know of…_" I answered. "_And for a Pokémon of my experience, that's saying something, because I've faced off against hundreds of different Pokémon over time, and can recite their identities by memory._"

"So what do you s-suppose I saw in my dream?" Foxfire asked me, wanting answers.

"_It's hard to say, because there are a handful of possibilities,_" I began to theorize. "_It could be a new Pokémon yet to be discovered, trying to make contact with you through your dreams. It could be merely be a figment of your subconscious imagination. It could be a vision of the future. Or it could be some or all of the above. Then again, it could be something else _entirely_._"

"…Like?" She wondered.

"_For all that we know, in your dream, you glanced at something…that is _not_ a Pokémon_."

"N-n-not a Pokémon?" Foxfire stammered, a bit more than usual, at the thought of that possibility. "Does such a thing even e-exist?"

"_Only_ _Arceus knows, Foxfire._" I responded vaguely, committing that thought to my heart. "_Only Arceus knows…_"

Our little conversation helped pass the time, and I found myself successfully making my way to the other end of the bridge, with my cargo and my passenger safely in tow.

And once there, I made sure that I remained as hidden as I possibly could, by staying put by the foundation of the bridge, where nobody was and nobody bothered to look. Because I knew that, from here on out, I would be seen if I roamed Castelia City, at this time of day.

Knowing that I might not get much accomplished for the two of us if I have half of the city knowing that I was here and threatening to capture me and _try_ to make me their own, I decided to play the waiting game.

However, Foxfire didn't know that just yet. And when I saw her suddenly come out of my backpack soon after we hit dry land, and see me decide to take shelter by one of the legs of this titanic Scolipede of a bridge, she looked at me quizzically and couldn't help but ask me what I was doing.

"W-what are you doing, Keldeo?" She asked.

I found a particularly soft spot of ground that I felt comfortable resting on by stomping on it a few times with my hooves, and then lied down on it, beginning to rest for the day.

"I'm beginning to feel a little tired," I explained. "And it's still an early day today. The sun has just reached the top of the sky, and people are all about Castelia City."

Now she was grasping the picture that I was painting for her.

"Maybe Team Rocket is no longer in the picture and you're in the clear from them for now, but there's still the chance that the two of us can become captured in some way by the human populace, if we both choose to roam the streets right now, in search of your father."

She began to approach me and rest right alongside me, snuggling her furry body right up to me for warmth against the pleasant marine breezes blowing by.

"And unfortunately for us, we're both particularly coveted by certain humans. You for the purple stone that you wear around your neck, and me for the painful fact that I'm the only one of my kind on this planet left."

Once she was comfortable, she closed her eyes and yawned once, feeling that she wasn't at her prime just yet and knowing now that a bit of rest would be best for now, after what she was forced to endure. She looked at me after her little yawn and continued hearing what I had to say.

"I know you've endured enough in your hometown, but can you just imagine what _I_ would go through if I decided to gallop around the city? Because, I have a pretty solid idea of what they would do to me if I tried to blend in with the human populace."

(Keldeo's Imagination)

I found myself parked in front of a burger joint, tied to a nearby post with a halter around my muzzle.

Approaching from behind me are two incoming customers, but they stop when they see me.

"Hey look, Mr. Krabs put in a kiddy ride." The first one said, in a California surfer accent.

"Why don't you try it out," the second one suggested, speaking with a similar accent. I even caught him elbowing his friend when he talked.

Looking behind me through the corner of my eye, I can see the first man approach me, holding a coin, and looking at my Pokémon. He spend a short period of time inspecting my backside, before he squinted once and then scratched his head, looking at me quizzically.

"I can't find the coin slot." The idiot goes, but then he finds his target. "Here it is!"

_**POKE!**_

I feel the coldness of the coin try to dig its way into my flank. And naturally, I grow startled by this, neigh as though I was being raped (which I think I just was), then buck the victim well over the horizon.

When his friend sees his foolish comrade soar across the sky and land some ways off, he grows worried for him, then turns to me, screams, and runs away in a panic.

"Help! Kiddy ride on the loose!"

(End of Keldeo's Imagination)

At the end of my overactive imagination, I find myself shuddering, from imagining the feeling of cold metal…disappear…inside of me.

Luckily for me though, Foxfire was too tired to think otherwise of my strange thoughts, and she fell asleep just before I did soon after her.

When I woke up, the moon had replaced the sun in the sky, and with it came darkness instead of light.

During this time, I knew that Castelia City was much more dormant at night than in the day, and that only a fraction of the populace would be awake at this time. Plus, as an added bonus to me, I had the advantage of stealth and could make darkness my ally when I navigate through the streets.

All I had to do now was wake up my little friend, who no doubt missed her father very much and should be reunited with him.

Getting up, I look down at my sleeping pup and gently tap her sides with one hoof.

"Ching-a-ling, Foxfire. It's time to wake up." I made like a Chingling and acted as her alarm clock.

"…Zzz…" She wouldn't budge.

I kept at this for ten more seconds, and stopped myself when I began to think of stomping on her to get her to wake up.

"(*Sigh*) Kids…" I gave up and bent my head down so that I could gingerly scruff her with my mouth and tuck her away in my Berry backpack once again.

With her still sleeping inside of my inventory, I looked over at where Castelia City was, and began to make my trek there.

Navigating across the vastness of a man-made metropolis, as I recall from my past experience, isn't as hard for me as it would be for other Pokémon. The reasons for that was because they're unable to fly and are grounded, or are just unable to move at speeds fast enough where navigating across the labyrinths of streets is efficient and effective.

While I can't exactly fly, I can jump, and jump extremely well, like a Blaziken can in a single bound over a skyscraper. Though, the way that I jump is a bit different than the norm, but only if I need the extra height.

For example, as I was climbing up the rooftops of this city, while remaining hidden from the few humans here and there that I can see, I was doing what is commonly called a "Rocket Jump", where I took advantage of the propulsive properties of the water that I can fire from my hooves and used it to acrobatically make my way higher and higher across this urban jungle.

The only problem with my water jumps is that I have to be relatively close to the ground, in order for my water to possess enough force to carry me higher. I can't exactly do this trick when I'm fifty feet off of the ground, or it'll lost its potency unless I'm at least ten feet off of the ground.

That being said, the "ground" that I was using to rocket jump my way higher and higher up Castelia City was the very _roofs_ that I was galloping across.

And the benefit of this was that I was spraying my water on and _only_ on the rooftops. Which meant that whatever humans resided right below at the streets wouldn't feel a drop, maximizing my undercover behavior.

Eventually though, through my persistence and my vertical ascension, I made my way to the tallest building in Castelia City. And once up here, all that I can see for miles in any direction were thousands upon thousands of earthbound stars, flickering artificially and polluting the night sky of its own natural luminescence.

Of course the smog pollution could be doing an equally effective job of making all but the brightest stars, as well as the full moon, visible during the midnight hours.

Seeing as I now had a Braviary's eye view of the city below me, I tried again to wake Foxfire up. And luckily for me, I had better luck this time.

A little bit of rough shaking of my sides was enough to stir her out of her sleep. And soon enough, her head emerged from my backpack and she hopped out of it, rubbing her eyes with her paws, and then opening them wide when she noticed that she wasn't standing on grass anymore, and on concrete.

"Am I…b-back home?" She asked me.

I simply nodded, and then proceeded over to as far out of the edge of this roof as I physically—and _comfortably_—could.

She didn't need to ask me another question, because she already had the answer to it just from reading my body language. She immediately took up another corner of the roof and proceeded to look down at the populace below us.

From down there, the lights blinded the view above for any humans that curiously decided to look up at the roofs, but from up here, we faced no such hindrance.

…Except for one. And that was time.

The minutes that we spent surveying the grounds below began to tick by, and we had no luck in locating Foxfire's father, Firestorm.

So we tried moving over towards another roof, and another, and another. We continued looking down from them, looking for the telltale appearance of a Ninetales. But all we noticed were the occasional Houndour and Growlithe, as well as a Meowth and Purrloin. In other words, common alley Pokémon folk that have made the back streets of this city their home.

I didn't know how much time had passed since we began searching, it could've been a few hours by now. And pretty soon, the dawn would be upon us, and after that, we'd be forced to abandon our search until the next night.

But then I heard those magic words coming from Foxfire's mouth, and a feeling of accomplishment course through me.

"Daddy!" She shouted at the top of her lungs.

**Thus concludes the fourth chapter. **

**Remember to breathe!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5: The Eclipse of Shadows**

"Daddy!" I was so very relieved to see my father is okay! I ran up to him, but… his leg looks like it's in bad shape.

"Foxfire?" Dad looked over to me

"Dad, I kept the purple stone safe from that wicked human. I don't know why he wanted it so badly, but now I can give it back to you." I said with a smile as I was about to take it off my neck, but Dad put his paw on mine and shook his head. "Dad?"

"No, Foxfire… you should keep it for the time being." He said. I frowned and was about to ask why when he must've noticed Keldeo behind me. "Oh? I see you made a friend."

I turned back and smiled, "Yeah, this is Keldeo, he actually saved me from that mean human and his Houndoom!"

"Oh really?" He looked at Keldeo. "… In that case, I thank you for saving my daughter."

"Sure, I was happy to help, Firestorm." Keldeo said in respect, to which I smiled. "But you don't look so good yourself…"

"No… I had a nasty fight with that human's Tyranitar, I was at a huge disadvantage. But in any case, I'm glad to see my child's okay." Dad said as he lay down.

I licked his face, "D-Dad…"

"I can help with your leg, Firestorm, I have some medicine like Sitrus Berries to help." Keldeo said as he walked up to Dad.

"I appreciate the help, Keldeo, but… we're already running out of time." Dad said seriously, looking up at the sky.

"W-why Dad? What do you mean?" I asked nervously.

"… When I was still young and a Vulpix… I joined an Exploration Team… and the Guild Master spoke of a warning of the future… about an eclipse that will bring forth the shadows and the end of the world." Dad said solemnly.

"A-an eclipsed?" Keldeo suddenly said, his eyes wide… both of us had dreams about an eclipse, but Keldeo's is more reoccurring while mine was just once, along with that strange pony Pokémon.

"Yes… they said the eclipse will be the trigger to something dark and powerful. Nobody knew for sure what it meant, just that dark shadows will be coming and unknown entities that are neither humans nor Pokémon." Dad said, looking a bit worried but serious at the sky.

"What should we do?" I asked nervously, not liking the possibility. "Is it going to happen right now?"

"Possibly… I sensed it while I was being chased. I don't know how much time we have left, could be days, could be hours, could be minutes or even seconds." Dad looked over at me. "Take care of the Power Stone, Foxfire, it's important you keep it with you."

"Wh-what?" Why is Dad talking like he's saying good-bye? "But Dad, this thing… uh… 'Power Stone' is yours, not mine. Why give it to me? I don't even know what it's for or even how to use it." I frowned, wondering why he wouldn't take it back or just tell me. I've noticed Keldeo's been quiet since we started talking.

"Because, Foxfire… I know you can bring out its fullest potential." Dad said before looking at Keldeo. "… Please, young Keldeo, I want you to take care of her."

"B-but sir, why?" Keldeo asked, just as confused.

"Because… I won't be able to move… the eclipse will be upon us." Dad said and suddenly everything got darker.

My eyes widen as I looked up, seeing the sun was being blocked by the moon. My eyes widen and I heard Keldeo gasping beside me. As soon as the eclipsed came upon us, it suddenly became very dark and cold. I heard other Pokémon around the city starting to sound nervous themselves, I guess they feel something's wrong too.

"It's time… Keldeo, take Foxfire and prepare yourselves." Dad said seriously.

"D-Dad, what about you? We can heal your left with Keldeo's medicine things a-and you can come with us!" I quickly said to him.

My father shook his head, "No… I'm sorry, you need to save as many as you can. There's no more time."

Keldeo picked me up on his back, "I promise to take good care of her, sir."

"B-but Dad! This would only take a second!" I said quickly.

"Sorry, my child, this is as far as I will go." Dad said, giving me a sad smile.

Suddenly these strange ant-like shadow creatures were coming up from the ground. I gasped and heard Keldeo doing the same as they began overrunning the city, I could hear people and Pokémon alike screaming and crying out as the cold darkness grew more and more.

"Dad! Keldeo!" I shouted, and Keldeo jumped away while I hung on to him, almost falling off!

"Whoops." Keldeo grabbed my back and dropped me into his bag. "You'll be safe in there, don't come out until it's safe."

"B-but-" I tried to argue, but Keldeo was already moving. I couldn't see what was going on out there, but I was worried for my dad… him and those other Pokémon and people crying out there. What's going on? Whatever it is it's not pretty.

I felt Keldeo moving a lot, then I felt some kind of shark black claws ripping through the bag! I yelped as some black ant thing with yellow eyes began ribbing the bag and trying to get to me. "Get out!" I yelled as I used Ember to burn its face, causing it to fall.

"A-are you okay?" I heard Keldeo ask as the berries and medicine began to fall out with that hole that black thing made.

"I'm fine, but you're losing your supplies!" I yelled back at him. I heard him cursing in anger as he landed on a hard surface, thankfully the empty streets.

"This is bad." Keldeo said as I jumped out of the bag, to see the damage. I looked around and noticed it was very dark yet empty here… _empty_… it was not natural… not even in the most quiet of times were the streets ever this empty, it's like everyone just disappeared…

"K-Keldeo… W-w-where is everyone?" I asked the legendary pony nervously.

"…. They were all dragged into the shadows, or at least that's what it looked like. I managed to get away, but one of them must've latched onto my bag." Keldeo said with a frown.

"B-but… it looks like we're alone. I-I'm scared…" I said nervously, shivering.

"Don't worry now… we'll be fine." Keldeo said, but I could tell he was lying… he was scared just as much as I was, but he was trying to be brave, he has no idea what's going to happen to either of us.

I looked around again while he tried to figure out how to fix the hole in his bag. That's when I decided to look up and saw the sky was completely black… the moon was still covering the sun, exactly how long does a normal eclipse last? "

"… I'm not entirely sure, but it shouldn't last _this_ long." Keldeo said, frowning. "Foxfire, I have a feeling… we're not alone here."

As soon as he said that, I jumped when I suddenly saw shadows… yes, SHADOWS surrounded us, and there were countless of them… when they got close to us, they turn into those shadow humanoid ant-like thing that attacked the bag earlier. They all looked at us with a hungry mindless gaze in their soulless yellow eyes.

Keldeo growled as he tried to hit them with a Hydro Pump. I tried to help with Ember, though much, much weaker than Keldeo's attack, it still burned them at least, but the problem is we were _completely outnumbered_, just the sheer numbers alone are enough to overwhelm both of us.

As desperate as we were, we knew we were fighting a lost cause and there were way too many of them. I yelped as I was suddenly pounced by one of the dark shadows and sinking into the darkness… everything around me started going black… I… I couldn't move… I couldn't breathe… everything was fading… fading… and… suddenly there was a bright flash of purple light, so bright it blinded me, I couldn't see Keldeo or what happened to him, but after that bright light, the next thing I knew I was falling… falling… endless falling.

… I remember waking up due to a soft and tender female voice, "You're waking up, I'm so happy to see you're okay my little furry friend."

My eyes widen when I saw a yellow pony-like Pokémon with a long pink mane and big eyes looking at me with a sweet looking smile. I sat up, looking at her curiously. She's clearly not human… she must be a new horse-like Pokémon like Keldeo!

"You had be so worried, you were just lying on the ground, unconscious, I was scared you were hurt, but you're fine now." She said, cuddling up to me. "My name is Fluttershy and I'm a friend to all creatures."

'Fluttershy'? What kind of Pokémon's species is that? She sounds like she's shy. Hmm… Judging by the wings, it's safe to say she's at least half Flying type. "And what's your name, new little fox creature?" she asked me.

I find her too sweet to ignore, so I decided to answer, "My name's Foxfire."

She looked at me oddly, "… Wait, so Vulpix's your name?"

…. Wait… she can't understand me? "No, Vulpix is my species, my NAME is Foxfire!"

"Oh, I'm sorry I can't understand you, so I'll just call you Vulpix for now, I hope you don't mind." Fluttershy said sweetly and I just sighed. But where the heck is Keldeo? Am I dead and this is heaven or something? But then why can't this Fluttershy understand me? "You must be starving, not to worry, I have some yummy pellet food for you."

Pellets? Does this Fluttershy even know what Vulpix eats? I'm not a freaking Mouse Pokémon! She used her mouth to put out a bag of those pellets and placed an empty dog bowl in front of me before filling it up with those nasty looking pills humans call food for their pet Pokémon.

I looked up at her, she smiled, "Go ahead, try it, it's good, I promise."

I frowned before deciding to at least try some before judging it, I took a bite… but it was nasty! It tasted like bitter herbs! Ugh, why am I even here? I need to find Keldeo, this Fluttershy is nice but I want to know if my first real friend is okay, and my Dad…

"Is something wrong, Vulpix? You don't look so well." Fluttershy said to me in concern.

I scratched the door, hoping she would understand, thankfully she did. "Oh, you want to go outside?" she opened the door with her hoof and I hurried out. "Don't go too far, you might get lost."

I knew she meant well, but I wanted to find Keldeo and my Dad, I hope they're both okay. So I ignore her and ran into this strange new land that I suddenly found myself in. I frowned… where the heck am I? None of this looks familiar… and these strange Pokémon don't talk and they look nothing like anything I've seen.

"Uh… h-hi, could you tell me where I am?" I asked one of the strange Pokémon, this one was white with long ears that looked similar to Buneary.

The strange white Buneary just gave me an irritated look and just crossed its arms as if I was just talking gibberish to it. "Uh… can you understand me?" I asked it as it just kept tapping its foot as if expecting me to say something else. "Um… I guess not… uh… I'll just go."

I walked away… not really sure where to go… there looks like there's a town up ahead, maybe somebody over there can help. I'm used to being around humans since I live in the city, but… when I got into town, I didn't see _any_ human, all I saw were more Fluttershys, and some other pony-like Pokémon without wings, some had horns, some didn't have either. The… pony Pokémon all looked at me with curiosity, as if never seeing a Vulpix before. I felt embarrassed being at the center of attention before.

"What is that?"

"I don't know, but it's cute."

"Looks like an animal, but I've never seen one with six tails before."

"Um… excuse me?" I spoke up, hoping at least one of them would understand me. "Could anyone tell me where I am?"

"Aww, it's so cute!" one of them said with a cooing voice. It seems they spoke in human language… that's odd… I'm starting to wonder if these ponies are even Pokémon at all. If they're not Pokémon, then what are they?

These strange creatures began approaching me, but I didn't like getting surrounded, especially after the incident with the shadows. I think some of them were looking at the purple stone around my neck, I didn't want to risk being attacked like when that rocket guy attacked me with his Houndoom, so I did the only thing I could think of; I fled. Of course, this seems to have caused a ruckus as I heard many of them beginning to yell and trying to chase after me.

I feel like I'm in one of those silly human cartoons in a chase scene, it would've been funny if I wasn't the one being chased. Thankfully, as a Vulpix, I knew how to hide myself and thankfully these ponies were pure herbivores since if they had been carnivores or omnivores they might've been able to sniff me out.

Okay, now that I've avoided them, it's time for me to find a disguise and to see if I can find Keldeo or my Dad, assuming they're alive… no, I can't allow myself to think such negative thoughts. But how should I disguise myself? If only I can look like one of those strange pony creatures somehow… hmmm… I'll have to hide my six tails with one big bushy one… maybe hide my paws with something that would resemble hooves… maybe they'll think I'm some kind of midget pony creature with a purple jewel as my accessory.

I used the leaves of the bush to cover my six tails, it looks like one big bushy tail, and thankfully there was a discard rubber band here so I used it to tie it around my waist. Now the hooves are a bit more difficult… I used some of the leaves to cover up my paw and stick them in the mud and used my Ember to help harden it around my paw so now it looks like a hoof. Okay, this is the best I can do… I hope this works.

I walked out of my hiding place and some of the strange pony creatures were staring at me for a minute before deciding to go back to their business, good, they didn't notice I'm not really a pony. This is a good chance for me to explore and-

"What's this? A new filly?" a voice spoke up that stopped me. "What kind of short mane is that? You don't look like any pony I've ever seen before."

I blinked, looking over at a pink pony creature with a purple and white swirl-like mane and tail, she looks pretty fancy and she wears a tiara… huh, I just noticed that the pony creatures have those strange tattoo pictures on their butts. … I guess I do look like a deformed pony creature to them, but I can't talk to them, so I guess I'll have to pretend to be a mute.

"What's wrong? Can't you speak?" she snapped, looking at me impatiently. I wish I COULD talk in her language, but they're not Pokémon and doesn't speak my language. Then she suddenly smirked, "Oh, I see, so you _can't_ speak, can you?"

I gave her a nervous look… It didn't take me long to realize she's the bully type, I've seen plenty of those with Pokémon who always defend their territory with such aggressiveness, however, she's most likely the type that talks and insults others rather than get physical with them. She sneered and walked around me as if studying me, which made me more nervous since there's a good chance she could see my 'tail' is nothing but leaves. But to my shock, all she said was; "So you're a blank flank I see, no cutie mark on your flank."

I blinked… I have no idea what a 'cutie mark' is, but it sounds like something for young female human children. I just shook my head and she sneered even more like I had said the wrong thing, "Aww, isn't that just sad? The little filly is a mute _and_ a Blank Flank!"

I growled in irritation at her, if I wasn't trying to hide my identity I would blast her with a big Ember attack! I tried to walk away, but of course the bully never wants to let a victim go until they're done with them, "Hey! Where do you think you're going?"

I wish I could just tell her to buzz off, this pony creature is annoying me. I kept trying to walk away, but she kept getting in front of me, "Hey, I'm trying to talk to you, you're being very rude you know, Blank Flank!"

"Leave her alone, Diamond Tiara!" another voice spoke up. I looked behind myself to see another little pony creature, only this one was yellow with a red mane and tail and a big pink bow in her mane.

"Oh what do you want now, Applebloom?" this pony… uh… Diamond Tiara, sneered at the other pony, Applebloom.

This Applebloom glared at her and said, "Don't make fun of the new filly just because she can't speak and looks weird."

"Of course _you'd_ defend this weird pony." The pink bully growled in irritation. "You and your 'Cutie Mark Crusaders' always have to butt in on my fun!"

"Well your fun is kinda mean, Diamond Tiara, how about instead of always pickin' on every pony you actually try bein' nice for once!" Applebloom snapped at her.

"How dare you! I am perfect and always nice to those I should be!" Diamond Tiara snapped before she walked away with her head high. "I don't need to waste my time with you anyway!"

As soon as Diamond Tiara walked away, Applebloom smiled at me, which made me feel a lot better now. And she had a hint of a country accent. "I apologize for her… Diamond Tiara's always been like that. My name's Applebloom… and I take it that you can't speak?"

I shook my head and she still smiled all the same, "Well that's okay, maybe I can help you get home! Maybe I'll even get a Cutie Mark for helping the lost!" Then she looked at me and said, "Wait, ya don't have a Cutie Mark either?"

I frowned, I assumed 'Cutie Mark' is that mark on their butts, and it looks like Applebloom doesn't have one either, I guess that's what Blank Flank meant. She smiled, "Hey! Maybe ya can join the Cutie Mark Crusaders!"

I shook my head and began walking, I didn't have time to join some club with these strange pony creatures, especially for something I don't naturally have or will get. She frowned when she saw me walking away, "W-wait! Please! I promise it's a lot of fun and you'll meet my two best friends Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo!"

I kept shaking my head, I didn't have time to delve into this little… filly's games. I decided to just run for it, maybe I can find a hiding spot and find Keldeo or Dad! I heard Applebloom calling for me, but I ignored her because I didn't want to have to hang with her. I had used Quick Attack to outrun her, thankfully it made me fast enough to lose the young pony creature.

Ugh… I wish I knew where I was going! Heck I don't even know where I am! "I heard that the Princess of Ponyville got a new castle just recently, after she defeated Tirek! I can't wait to see what it looks like on the inside!" I heard one of the ponies say in excitement… So I'm in a town called 'Ponyville' eh?

I don't know what a Tirek is, but I didn't care at the moment, I wanted to find- Oof!

"Oh dear me! You look so filthy!" a white pony with a horn that I bumped into said to me. I frowned as I was suddenly lifted back an invisible force! It's like a Psychic type using Psychic on me! I noticed her horn was glowing blue. "Not to worry, I will get you a bath and give you a proper look!"

I yelped as she walked away and my body was floating after her, what is going on? Are these ponies Psychic types or something? But if they're not Pokémon then what kind of power is this? I struggled a bit, but that white pony kept talking.

"You know, I've never seen a creature quite like you before, but I'm sure you're not a pony. I can't wait to see what you really are under all those leaves and mud!" she said a bit too excitedly and I couldn't get out of her Psychic hold on me.

This white pony soon led me to this big house and I find myself in a bathtub. Thankfully bath water doesn't really hurt Fire types, at least not with me. I like water and yes, I know that sounds weird coming from a Fire type, I don't know why I do though. She washed away the leaves and mud I had over myself, but her eyes sparkled when she noticed the purple gem around my neck.

"Oh my, you DO have good taste after all! I've never seen such a beautiful gem that speaks such power." She said smiling. "Oh, how rude of me, here I am giving you a bath and I didn't introduce myself! My name is Rarity, a designer of Ponyville of course!"

"… Hi, I'm Foxfire." I said, but of course she probably only heard "Vul, Vulpix."

Rarity blinked, looking at me, "Oh, I guess you can't talk. That's okay, I'll just call you Vulpix, and you're so cute. I heard that Fluttershy took in a cute little fox creature, but you are different than what I expected. You have these amazing six tails, I've never seen a fox with so many tails, yet they look good on you."

Rarity used that horn psychic thing to pick up some soap and scrubbed me with it. I'll admit; I'm feeling a guilty pleasure come from all this. I couldn't help but purr as she washed the bubbles away on my fur, making me feel nice and clean. I've never really had a bath before, at least not in this way, why do Meowths hate these so much?

"There we go, now you look so much better! You're a lot better than my cat, Opalescence, she refuses to take a bath without a struggle." Rarity sighed… What's a 'cat'? Sounds like a Meowth or Skitty.

Then she took me out of the bathtub with her horn psychic and dried me up with a towel. She smiled, "I wonder where you got that rare gem, and I've never seen one before."

I shrugged, wishing I could communicate with her, maybe she can help me find Keldeo and my father. I stretched out and she smiled, "Of course, I'll have to find something for you to wear, you can't just go walking around Ponyville like that, ponies will get curious."

I rolled my eyes, while she turned around and yammering on about getting clothes, which is odd since these ponies don't wear clothes, I snuck away, thankful she had a little door for her pet. I was glad to be out, but… now every pony creature is looking at me with great curiosity… ugh, here we go again. I ran while they all chased me, using Quick Attack to stay one step ahead of them all, but those flying ponies were harder to dodge, they can freaking FLY!

I yelped as one of them managed to grab me with their mouth and I yelped, then it dropped me onto their arm, "… Huh… Fluttershy's right, you are a new animal."

I blinked, looking up… it was a cyan flying pony, this one has rainbow mane and an attitude, she looked at my purple gem and said, "Huh… I wonder if Rarity's seen that gem yet, looks pretty valuable."

I looked down, frowning, that's when I saw a train and… Keldeo on top of it? What the heck? He looks like he's trying to hide from something… he then jumped off the train with Hydro Pump in his hoofs and landed near the train station. This rainbow pony must've noticed him too. "Hey, I've never seen that pony before…"

I looked up at her as she gave a curious yet challenging look before she flew at him. I yelped as she brought us down with such speed I thought my fur would be blown off! "HEY YOU!" she shouted at Keldeo before landing in front of him and putting me down. "I've never seen you before."

"Keldeo!" I called out to him, happy to see he's here. "I'm so glad you're here!"

"Foxfire?" he blinked, looking shocked to see me here.

"What's going on, Keldeo?" I asked, wanting some answers and hoping he may know something.


	6. Chapter 6

Hello everyone it's my turn to write a chapter, I know that you have been waiting a long time, but it's come to an end!

…Why is there no one here?

Anyways I have a fanfic for you guys to check out. I'm rating it a 9/10 because of it's originality, quality, and how well everything in it fits together. It's called ghosts of oblivion. 

Well anyways here is the sixth chapter!

Chapter 6

Another day was coming to an end. Proof of that was just outside, where the sun was setting. The sneasel was watching out of the tallest building in the city, but which city it was he couldn't remember. Oh well it wasn't like it mattered anyways, this was just another job in another random city.

Focusing on the mission in hand, the sneasel turned around and walked to the nearest door. There were no pokemon with him, nor did he want any with him. He had a big price on his head, the biggest in all of history if he remembered correctly. Such a price come from taking down the exploration teams, and such a price was too tempting for most pokemon. He would easily escape from any pokemon that could try to capture him but that was the second reason he wanted to be alone. He did not want others to think he was anything other than a normal sneasel. Well as normal as a sneasel that took down the system of justice can be.

The sneasel turned to the door and had his key form into existence. He then silently opened the door and stepped in. He looked around for the item he was looking for, the ground plate. He could use it himself of course, such a thing comes from being able to use every move, but that would be a waste of time. His variety of moves gave him victory every time, he did not need such a thing. No, the plate was to be sold to the next owner, who just like this one, would keep it for about a month before it was stolen again.

Most of the time it would have been a different pokemon who would have stolen it back, but the sneasel was bored, and was more than willing to do such a mission. It helped that the life form which had bought it, had been a human, so it gave a difficult challenge. However, it wasn't as difficult as the sneasel had been expecting, and he was disappointed.

After looking around the room, and deciding that the plate wasn't here, the sneasel exited and went to the next door. He unlocked the door and entered, but came to the same result. This happened for about 11 more doors, but that was fine. This sneasel didn't have anything else to do tonight, so he had all the time that was needed. It was more important that he wasn't seen anyways as pokemon were usually required to be in pokeballs if they were to be in a building. If he was seen he would be thrown out, or worse, caught.

Upon opening the 14th door, the sneasel saw the ground plate. It was inside of a glass box. But that was no matter. The sneasel broke open the box, and immediately teleported out, and into his own home. He was lucky, usually he would just use fly, but he needed to practice that move. Teleportation always worked better when he was calm so he needed to start practicing it when he was at least a little nervous. He set the ground plate on his desk, to be taken care of tomorrow. He then went to bed and fell asleep.

But in the morning he would wish he hadn't. For when he slept, he dreamt of his name, and how it had come to be. It was his least favorite memory, and he tried to forget it as often as possible. But even using the move amnesia never helped. The memory was burned into his mind forever. Burned being the key word. For such an event no one would ever forget, not even those who forget their own name.

The pokemon woke up. He seemed to be a black pokemon, one who had claws as his main defense. The said pokemon, was as you had already known, sneasel. But back while the sneasel was having this memory, he did not know this.

The pokemon has tried to remember before this point, but has never succeeded. All he could find was blue. The reason for the blue he has never found out, but just the same, while the sneasel was making this memory, all he could draw back on was blue.

He didn't know how, but he did know some things, unfortunately, his name was not one of them. What he did know was that the claws he had were to be used for his protection, and that he needed to get away. He did not know what from, but he had to get away.

So the sneasel stumbled along, breaking branches and tearing vegetation as he did. He saw a path but did not follow it, whatever he needed to get away from would either take the path or expect the sneasel to go on it, and thus set a trap. So along he stumbled, broke, and tore, until he came to the cliff.

The cliff did not come slowly, in fact if he hadn't been going slow, to make sure that no form of life could see him, he would have fallen off. There were even some plants growing a foot or two over the edge of the cliff, so that if you were not looking down, you would have fell off for sure. It was not a pleasant thought, but none of the thoughts in the young sneasels mind were pleasant at the moment. Being chased while having your memory gone and not knowing where you are going does that to you.

While the cliff would lead to death, the path beside it would lead to life. Of course, the sneasel still thought about the person chasing him. He knew that if he took the path, which was basically a road carved into the side of the cliff, he could let two things happen. He would either let the person find him because of the lack of vegetation, and the fact that the pursuer could be flying would just make that easier. Or he would spring a trap they may have set there, as it seemed the easiest and safest way down.

So with that in mind, the sneasel took out his claws and stuck them in the cliff to start to climb down in such a fashion. Of course with gravity against him, he slid/crashed down the edge of the cliff. In fact, if it wasn't for the branches and leaves that were growing in the path he took, he would have died. Sure with no branches, he would have no bruises of cuts, but sustaining injures is better than dying. Of course branches and such will only stop a fall so much, and because of that fact, his head hit the ground hard and he was out.

When he came to, he woke up to see a pink a white pokemon looking at a monitor. His head was throbbing and his vision was blurry and that was all he could tell. It was only a few seconds until he lost consciousness again and saw black. The next time he awoke, he saw no pokemon or humans, but only saw the moon. Once again he had his throbbing head, but his vision seemed to be back to normal at least. He closed his eyes to try to calm his head and was out before he knew it. They say third time is the charm, and this time it was correct.

Once again he saw the pink and white pokemon, but instead of staring at a monitor, she was staring at him. When it saw that he had awoke, it lead out a feminine exclamation, thus showing its gender. The sneasel got up, rubbed his head, and asked, "Where am I?" The pokemon smiled and said, "You're in my orphanage." The sneasel had never heard of such a word before. Well actually it was possible that he had heard it, but had just forgotten it. The pink and white pokemon smiled and nodded, " Yeah, I mean I've only seen humans do it and most pokemon born without knowing their parents usually just become dungeon pokemon, fighting others, even fellow dungeon pokemon just for things like food, and never even hear of places like town and cities! I have devoted myself to changing that, and making sure that nothing as horrible as that kind of life ever happens again!" The sneasel couldn't think of what to say so he just blurted out, "That sounds like a big task". This was apparently the wrong thing to say, as the pokemon drooped. The pokemon then popped back up with a look of determination. "I know it's such a big task, but so was setting up the pokemon exploration teams, and now look where they are. There are even shops that require the success of those teams in order to stay afloat. So I use them as my example whenever I get down" She said.

Then she stared right into the sneasel's face and said, "Well anyways, my name is Audino, what's yours?" The sneasel was taken aback. He had been trying to remember the crucial thing, but couldn't. "I-I don't have one" he said. Audino looked as surprised as one could expect, but quickly recovered with, "Well I suppose I'll just have to think of one. Hmm how does Cheri sound?" "What!" the sneasel said, "but I'm not female, I'm male!" Audino looked surprised, but then said, "Well I suppose I'll just have to call you Zaroc." The sneasel rolled the name in his mind for a while, and then said, "Well I suppose that will have to do."

Thus began what seemed to be a lifelong companionship, one of the most unusual pairs that may be found. Zaroc, a sneasel whose body was quite literally built for war, the easiest example being the sword-like claws that were usually hidden in his fur, and Audino. Audino was a pokemon that only wanted to heal all of those around her, and would use her sensitive ears to do so. Even though they were such an odd pair, their friendship still worked.

The first sign that things may turn was the first day Zaroc went into town. He was with Audino, and they were going around looking for stores selling apples. Zaroc was trying to draw as little attention as possible, as he was afraid that his unknown pursuer could be in town, or might even be one of the pokemon running the shops and stalls. He would keep his head down, talk as little as possible, and avoided the bigger crowds. Audino thought it was ridiculous, and slightly amusing to do these things, but went along with him.

The first shop they went to that sold apples, was going well, at least when they had entered it was. Audino was at the cashier (who was also the owner of the store) and was bargaining with all her might. She was a kind hearted pokemon, but would not be cheated out of her money. The cashier was about to sell her the apples, but then he saw Zaroc's eyes. The one pink, and one blue was strange enough, but being a sneasel filled the tiny gap that was keeping the owner from freaking out. You see, sneasels are usually loners, only coming into the view of others when they wanted to fight someone. Of course this was not Zaroc's intention, in fact it was just the opposite. There wasn't anything like a fight that would draw attention.

"Miss Audino, it has been a pleasure, but I do believe you should leave", said the owner, trying to protect himself, and Audino at the same time. Looking confused Audino simply asked, "Why?" The store owner, now whispering as to not draw Zaroc's attention, told her, "I don't want to alarm you, but it seems that a sneasel has come into the shop" Audino simply said, "He's with me".

The store owner was very shocked, and frankly a bit enraged that Audino would try to disrupt his shop and cause him fright. So he promptly kicked them out of the shop, without any of their purchases. The same happened wherever they went. The store owner would get upset and throw them out. Sometimes it was another customer, trying to impress Audino, and other times Zaroc would literally get thrown out. By the end of the day, they still had made no purchases and Audino had been permanently banned from a couple stores, while Zaroc was banned from all of them. "Maybe it would be best if I did the shopping alone next time", Audino said apologetically. Zaroc just nodded.

From then on out, Audino would go to the stores and buy whatever it was that they needed. Zaroc didn't particularly care about that factor, he preferred it a little too actually. With Audino getting everything that they needed, there was a less chance of him getting caught. While home he would clean, or do anything else as a sort of thank you for allowing him in her home. Especially with his two colored eyes. She said it was all part of being an orphan in her orphanage, but he would do so anyways. It was worth it when he saw her smile on her face as well, so it was all good.

That is until the second sign. The day had started out normal enough, with Audino making breakfast, and Zaroc checking out the window to make sure that no visitors were coming. He would always hide in the closet, or under the bed when a visitor came by. Like usually, there was no visitors, some pokemon were still sleeping even. He went back down the stairs and started eating breakfast with Audino.

"So why haven't you started getting more pokemon for your orphanage?" asked Zaroc. Audino looked up and said, "Well on the measly salary that I get from my work, I wouldn't be able to house any more orphans". Zaroc looked up in alarm and said, "I could leave to the dungeons and search for money there, it wouldn't be too unusual for explorers to see a pokemon that was fighting others". "No no", Audino said, "I couldn't ask you to do that, and besides, I wouldn't want you to get hurt."

Just then, a knock came from the door, and a rushed voice spoke from it, "Audino, are you there? It's me Eevee! I came here as quickly as I could once I had heard that a dreadful sneasel had attacked you!" I started rushing to the stairs to hide, when the door opened and an eevee looked directly at me. The eevee had clothes on, something that only rich pokemon would ever be able to afford. Now I had been eating a Cheri berry, and some of the juice from the berry was going down my chin. The eevee noticed this and screamed. I rushed upstairs and hid.

Sometime later a crowd had gathered around the house and were rioting. I noticed that the eevee was at the front, and was leading the crowd. She looked to be crying, and yelled, "Burn the house! That sneasel is still inside, and he ate Audino!" Now this was ridiculous, not only had a crowd gathered to burn Audino's house, but they were accusing me of _eating _Audino? Pokemon don't eat each other, and they were accusing me of doing so?

However, the eevee's words seemed effective as a quilvia walked up and started burning the house with ember. I had to get to Audino quick. However, when I reached Audino, she was stuck, apparently she had tried to flee, but a piece of wood that was burning had fell on her, and she couldn't lift it. I went over to her as fast as I could, and sliced up the wood with my claws. I then grabbed her hand, and started to try to hurry her up. However, it seemed as though the wood had hit her foot, as it was broken. I looked on her pained expression, and then moved her arm onto my shoulder. We started to make our way to the exit.

It took a while seeing as how we had to avoid fires that were burning and we had to try to avoid falling pieces of wood. We were almost at the exit when a particularly big piece of wood landed on Audino.

"NO!" Zaroc shouted as he tried to pull her out from under the wood. But it was to no avail as the wood was just too heavy. "Zaroc", Audino said weakly, looking up at him, "you have to escape." "Not without you!" he shouted, "You are always there for me, even when what I say sounds ridiculous, not to mention that you are my only friend, I can't leave you!" "But you must", Audino whispered, "I probably wouldn't survive long with my wounds that I received from the plank, especially that most hospitals wouldn't accept me for housing you, in fact they may even finish the job."

I hated to admit it, but she was right. Besides, I would not be able to carry her out of the building, never mind outside. "It would be much better for one of us to live than for both of us to die. Just promise me that you will carry out my dream and make the world safe from pokemon who never knew what it was like to have a mom or a dad" Audino said. "I… I promise", I said sadly. I then rushed out of the building, with tears running down my cheeks the entire time.

Once I was out, the mob noticed me. They chased me until I had gone into what I had learned was a mystery dungeon. Ironically it was the same one that I had woke from all those months ago. I ran down it avoiding the pokemon I was still too weak to fight, and continued until I went to another town, but this time I did not stay long. I was nearly thrown out immediately on accusations that I was a demon or a pokemon that would bring bad luck, solely based on my eyes. If it wasn't for their coloring I probably would still be with Audino, sitting in a chair with her.

The same thing happened to every town afterwards. I was always thrown out because of my eyes. Sometimes I would be nearly beaten to death because of them. Some days I would just consider ripping them out with my claws, but never would for I carry out the thought for I may never survive the pain and blood loss. I would not be able to complete Audino's dream if I was dead.

I woke up gasping, covered in sweat. I then closed my eyes and tried my best not to remember the dream. Tried to think of anything but Audino. While it was true that I would introduce myself with the name she called me, I did not want to think about her death.

But it was too late. So my mind went through all of my memories. So while I was sitting on my bed in the quiet night, I thought about all the times we had. The happy ones. The sad ones. The depressing ones. I thought of them all. Maybe I'd bring bodyguards next time, even if to just not feel as alone. I had never had another friend like Audino, but it may help.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

They were everywhere. They were nowhere. They were the dark. They were the shadows. They were here one moment and gone the next. They did not make the darkness their ally. They were born in it.

These black…bugs? These…insect-like shadows with two antennae on their heads and beady, glowing yellow eyes. What exactly were they? What business did they have here, within Castelia City?

The events that played out between me, Foxfire, and her father were almost a blur me when these entities of darkness overwhelmed the city that I chose to venture to, to seek answers to my recurring dreams of an eclipse that was going to happen within this metropolis.

They say that dreams don't always come true for all of us, but mine did. Though I wish it didn't, now that I look back on it.

I hardly recalled the words I said and the words that Foxfire and her father responded back with. I just remember going by my honed battle instincts as I fought off these springing black bug-like shadows.

Alongside Foxfire, we held off against as many of these…shadows…as we physically could. And while the two backpacks that I had strapped onto me would've benefitted us with the medicines and supplies I had carried within them, they were torn to shreds and their contents lost, alongside the rest of their fabrics. Luckily for me, while I lost the backpacks, I didn't lose Foxfire when I put her in there during this fracas.

…Unfortunately, despite our hardest attempts to fight off these waves of living darkness, their numbers gave them an advantage I couldn't combat against, even with my extensive training and title as one of the four Swords of Justice.

One of them successfully blindsided me and tackled Foxfire. And before my eyes, I could see this living shadow seep into the hard tarmac that we were standing on, with her alongside it. I could see her trying to scream, but the shadows were suffocating her, paralyzing her.

"Foxfire!"

The drive to fight was fleeting, and was immediately replaced with the drive to protect her, as I promised her father that I would. Whatever attacks I was launching at these countless shadows instantly stopped dead, as I leapt into this forming pool of darkness, right after her.

But the moment that I did, Foxfire disappeared from view, and the darkness took hold of me. It felt…dense, almost like being surrounded in water but without the wetness of it.

And just like water, as I know all too well, I couldn't breathe through it, no matter how badly I want to.

Within this darkness, I lost all of my physical bearings with reality. My physical orientation was nonexistent, my five senses redundant. All that I was thinking about was the wellbeing of Foxfire, even when I slipped into unconsciousness.

The sound of deafening wind coursing through my ears and across my flowing red mane awakened me from my inadvertent slumber. And the first thing that I took note of when I opened my eyes was the clear blue sky above me.

The second thing that I noticed, with my body, was the realization that I was falling!

Reflexively, I twisted my body in midair, my hooves facing the earth below me. And when I did so, no water came out of my hooves to stop my fall. One, because I was miles above the ground. And two, the world below me was unlike anything I've ever seen before.

It was hard to describe the landscape below me without using the word "cartoon". But as for the mountain that I was rapidly approaching, that was a different matter. The mountain had a city on it, full of older-looking buildings that gave the place an Arthurian ambience. And right beside this city, clinging directly on the edge of this mountain, was a castle. This sanctuary had dozens of lofty ivory towers, with golden spires atop each and every one of them.

And at the rate that I was falling, I was going to hit one of those roofs.

I was falling too fast to slow my speed with water, and knew that the only way to stop falling was to stop abruptly. And unfortunately for me, that meant breaking through some roofs.

I knew this would hurt, so I curled my body to the point where I was near as makes no difference shaped like a ball, braced myself with an energy dome through PROTECT, and hastily slurred prayers to Arceus, to ensure my wellbeing.

CRASH!

I broke through the golden spires of one of that castle's towers...

CRASH!

And then I broke through one of the floors below.

SPLASH!

Luckily for me, my PROTECT lasted long enough to fortify me from two potentially fatal falls. And when my psychic shield disappeared, my surprising good luck saved me a third time, by having me land inside what appeared to be an indoor pond.

…Unfortunately, the water was shallow, no more than two feet deep. Also, when I landed, I fell flat on my back, with my hooves in the air. My bulbous nose stuck out of the water like a snorkel, and was the only thing keeping me from drowning.

That's a good thing. Because the hit that I took to the back of my head, as well as throughout my body, made it impossible for me to retain my consciousness.

"Heheheheh…" my eyes rolled around their sockets in two different directions, my head swaying like a metronome, and my mouth curled up in a goofy smile, while speaking bubbles within the pond. "Nap time!"

Once again, the darkness consumed me, but only because my eyes closed and my brain blacked out.

…

When I woke back up, I was still heavily dazed and seeing stars. But when my vision steadily stabilized, I found out that the stars that I was looking at was in actuality just one star, dancing around so that there appeared to be more than one.

Oddly enough, this star that I was staring at was the sun. But it didn't exactly appear to shine down on me with its almost heavenly if not searing light. It was quite pleasing on the eyes actually, like looking into a standstill portrait of the morning star.

…Until I realized that it was tattooed on the pale white posterior of a…something…and had a mirrored second sun, placed in the center of the other cheek. Though at this point, when I realized I was looking up at the butt of a…something…complete with a long, flowing, and almost ethereal tail that was eerily colored as similarly as rainbow sherbet ice cream, I couldn't help but find myself blushing heavily at this…mooning sight.

Then again, the simmering and steaming heat of this pond could be responsible for making my cheeks blush.

...schlurp.

All of a sudden, my eyes widened and I found myself unable to breathe through my nose, when this…female…sat down on my face, squarely on my nose. But this…odd moment quickly passed before I found myself thinking of thrashing to avoid suffocating, when she sat back up and quickly looked at me right in the eye, with a reddening countenance, as if I had just violated her.

And as I looked back into the eyes of a…winged unicorn, an awkward silence existed between the two of us.

I didn't move a muscle, but my face continued growing redder, until it was as crimson as hers. Then, her face grew even more crimson, scarlet even, when her obvious anger and embarrassment spontaneously combusted around her body in the form of flickering flames.

"(Oh my Arceus…)" Was all that I could think before I sprung into action.

Whatever was between me and this castle was either serpentined through or knocked away with a forceful, hastened spray of water. And when I eventually found myself exited through this labyrinth of a castle, I didn't even glance long enough to make out the citizens of this place that roamed about the place, unless they were in my way before I darted around them.

My eyes were opened wide, surveying my fleeing path while also avoiding the incoming fireballs that I was seeing fired upon me from this hellfire mare. My ears heard only my beating heart pounding away within the jail cell that was my ribcage. My rounded snout smelled only the forced inhales of the incoming breeze, alongside a hint of…vanilla…straight from that horse's bottom. My hooves only felt the paved gravel of the road I was travelling across. And my tongue could only taste the hoarse, unrelenting braying that I was making as I continued running for my life.

Then matters grew worse for me when I noticed I wasn't being pursued by just one flying unicorn. I was being pursued by another, one that appeared directly in front of me, black as the night, with a mane and tail emulating the constellations of stars and galaxies.

This dark horse flew low to the ground, and appeared ready to stab me with the horn on its head. And unlike what happened earlier between me and the white winged unicorn, I'm much too scared to gawk at and identify genders at the moment.

Reacting on instincts at this moment, I didn't even think of using HYDRO PUMP through all four of my hooves until I was made airborne by the propulsive force of water against the hard ground I was running on. I found myself "flying" up and over this second winged unicorn, somersaulting a couple of times to maximize my hang time and aerial distance, landing back down with four clops onto the earth, and instantly lose count of my steps as I continued bolting away from these two enemies I inadvertently made.

But I couldn't outrun them forever, as I eventually realized when I was busy passing through somewhat busy streets and hastily making my way through citizens with my agility or with my use of water. I had to do something against them, and the only option that I could think of was fighting them.

But do I dare gamble my life on my ability to defeat a pair of horned pegasi, whom I know next to nothing about in terms of their ability to fight? For all that I know, I could find myself shackled by a telekinetic force that they may possess that I'm unaware of until the moment it hits me. I am half Fighting-Type after all.

My body, heart, and mind say no, but my survival instincts are screaming yes.

When I appeared to be running straight into the wall of a building, I hopped on it and defied gravity by running on it for a few moments. Then, just before gravity could take over my running speed, I jumped off, speeding straight towards these white and black equines. And as I was maximizing my speed for a counterattack, I rolled repeatedly around myself, spraying water out of my hooves until I encased myself within my AQUA JET attack.

Astonishingly, they were taken aback by this, even though I'm almost positive they could've defended themselves or even evaded me. But they did no such thing, and I collided right into the two of them. I struck the flaming red one first, right on her pectoral muscles, to douse her flames. Then I rebounded off of her and struck the black one…square on her rear.

And when I "flew" away from the black one after bouncing off of her flank, a split-second glimpse of her allowed me to cement into my memory her features. There was a tattoo of a crescent white moon surrounded by a night sky, alongside both butt cheeks. And right between them, I confirmed the fact that it was actually another mare, based on her…anatomy.

When I landed and my AQUA JET attack vanished, I bought myself enough time to seek out a secluded alleyway, and hide within what appeared to be a dumpster. I didn't know how long I remained within it, within the stinking mush that was put inside my temporary bunker. I didn't know if those two femme fatales were hovering overhead of me, looking down to see where I had scurried off into, ready to unleash their rolling thunder at the mere sight of me. I only knew that I had to find out, and find out immediately.

Slowly, I opened the dumpster's roof, so that I could see out of it. Then, I opened it further so that I could just barely peek my head out of it and look up at the sky. And after a few minutes of tension and staring at the strangely fluffy clouds in the sky, I saw…

…Nothing.

"(*Sigh*)" I almost gasped after exhaling, from the fact that I was involuntarily holding my breath throughout that tense moment.

With my head out of the dumps, I proceeded to make the rest of me come out as well. But when I got my front hooves out, I looked to my right and cringed when I realized that I wasn't alone.

I was being quizzically watched, by a…unicorn…with taupe fur, brown hair, food service attire, and a sprinkled doughnut for a pair of tattoos on each flank. And with his glowing horn, he appeared to be holding a box of doughnuts, most likely having gone stale or something.

A few moments passed where we each looked at each other without budging an inch or making a sound. It felt as though time stopped for me, before I eventually thought of simply playing the situation as cool as water.

I greeted…him…by waving my hoof, then slowly slid out of the dumpster. I was about to walk away, but I saw the box of pastries and was beginning to feel somewhat famished.

"…Are you going to eat that?" I found myself saying without wondering if this…pony…could understand me.

Surprisingly, not only did he understand me, but he complied. I found myself suddenly carrying the box of stale doughnuts right on top of my damp, ruffled, red mane. And then I was on my way, glad that my composure had been regained where I can comfortably feign calmness.

As for this pony, he simply turned around and walked away as well, probably thinking that I was some dumpster diver or something.

The first thing that I noticed when I reached an outdoor patio and seated myself by a table where I could feel comfortable eating was that these doughnuts still tasted mostly fresh, and actually impressively delectable. It made me wonder why that unicorn thought of tossing them out in the first place. But in the end, I simply thought that he wanted the best for his customers, whether he works in a doughnut shop or actually owns it.

As I was happily and nonchalantly eating my fill, my eyes still wandered the skies, for any signs of those two winged unicorns that I narrowly escaped from. But at this point in time, I was seeing somewhat smaller pegasi soar the skies rather than those two lanky white and black mares.

When I looked back at ground level, I was finding it difficult to look at the skies once again. The multitude of equine life that I was witnessing here almost felt like I was dreaming in the middle of the day.

At first, I thought that what I was seeing was a new species of Pokémon, harboring a city of their own creation. But I quickly dismissed that idea because none of these…ponies…even remotely looked like Pokémon. They appeared far too simple to be Pokémon, based only on their physical builds. Also, all I was seeing were ponies, some with wings, some without, and most with horns. There were mostly unicorns, with the occasional pegasi and regular looking ponies. Most of them also had tattoos on their butts, with a few smaller and likely younger ponies having none. And outside of this, I saw no other apparent forms of life.

No…human life.

After finishing half of the doughnuts, I found it difficult to finish the others, because I was beginning to try to understand what had just happened to me, which distracted me from my normally big appetite.

"(I'm certainly not in Castelia City anymore…)" I thought, while seeing ponies of these three shared races go on with their days, mingling with each other, either wearing clothing…or entirely in the buff. "(I don't even think I'm in Unova anymore, or even in the world that I call home.)"

Suddenly, a flash of memories began to play within my mind. My conversation with Foxfire's noble father, the swarm of insect-like entities of darkness crawling over each other to fight me, Foxfire being assimilated into the darkness…

…!

…And me rushing recklessly to jump in after her to try and save her.

I found my appetite disappearing immediately, because it felt as though I had just swallowed a stone. My stomach weighed heavily with this metaphor, as did my mind and my head. I found myself looking down at the doughnuts and the pile of crumbs within this white cardboard box, but all I was seeing were my eyes beginning to water, and images of Foxfire disappearing within the darkness, while all that I could see myself doing was reaching out a helping hoof for her futilely.

But before I could feel myself begin to cry at my failure and my sadness, a hopeful thought echoed within my mind, and dried up my tears faster than harsh sunlight ever could.

"(I ended up right here, within this world of equines, after diving into the darkness…)" I began to speculate. "(Is it possible then…that Foxfire end up here as well?)"

Almost immediately, I could feel my appetite returning after thinking such a hopeful thought. But it didn't return instantly, only incrementally. And that was because I delved deeper within this possible outcome for her.

"(If she did, then where is she?)" I contemplated, looking around myself and seeing only historic-looking buildings for miles across this city. "(Is she here? Or is she elsewhere?)"

Looking back down at the six doughnuts that I've yet to finish, my appetite returned with a vengeance, and I pictured myself stuffing them down my throat with vigor. But as I opened my mouth and lowered my head to take another bite, I stopped cold when I heard a mature male voice speak to me.

"Is this seat taken?"

Almost hesitantly, I looked at the source of the voice right in front of me. What I saw speaking to me was a handsome-looking unicorn colt, about my size. He had white fur all across his body, light blue eyes, dark blue hooves, and a mane and tail that varied in three different shades of blue. Also, he appeared to be wearing a light suit of gold/purple armor, which only covered the core of his body. And as is the case with the vast majority of equines within this city―and perhaps throughout this bizarre world―he too had a pair of similar tattoos on his flanks. They resembled a dark blue shield, with three small and light blue stars above it, and one six-sided purple star right in the center.

…Wait a minute! Six-sided purple star?! It's just like the one I saw in my prophetic dreams! But…but what does it mean?

"Sir?"

Before I knew it, I was snapped back into reality and looked at this approachable stranger right in the eyes.

"…No. It's not. Go right ahead." I said so quietly it was almost a whisper.

He took a seat on the only other chair beside this patio table and promptly sighed in relief of…something troubling him perhaps?

"You would not believe the day I've been having lately." He continued speaking to me, as though we were lifelong friends.

"…You don't say." I mumbled again, finding this stranger to be a bit unsettling to me for some reason.

He looked down at the box of halfway finished doughnuts I had on the table. And upon looking at them, I was almost certain that I saw his eyes twinkle. "You have a big appetite to be eating a dozen of Pony Joe's Canterlot's famous doughnuts."

Canterlot? Pony Joe? Both of those new names floated around in my head for a bit before I made a connection with them. Canterlot must be the name of the city that I'm in, and Pony Joe is the name of that unicorn that I met as I was exiting the dumpster. It certainly couldn't be the other way around. Pony Joe doesn't sound like the fitting name for any city.

"I don't suppose I can have one?" He asked me politely.

For some reason, I could feel my appetite wane again, enough so where I could relinquish a doughnut or two.

"…Yeah…sure." I tried to speak up a bit. "They're a bit stale though… He was about to throw them away, but I…asked if I could have them. He just nodded and gave them to me…free of charge."

He didn't seem to notice my fabricated lie and plucked a doughnut without using his hooves, or without reaching over and plucking one with his mouth. My eyes targeted the light purple aura surrounding this colt's unicorn horn, and my body physically cringed at the sight of the telekinetic properties of his horn, causing the doughnut to hover over towards his open mouth. He happily began munching away at it, until nothing remained but crumbs on the table.

"That pony takes pride in his work." He continued speaking after swallowing and licking his lips. "He strives to make the best doughnuts he possibly can. And even when they're beginning to grow stale, they're still delicious."

"That's…impressive." I continued feigning having knowledge of that subject, but I didn't know how much longer I could last.

"If you think that's impressive, you should've seen his Donutopia creation." He went on, still speaking to me about thinks I discreetly didn't know, as though we were the best of friends. "My little sister and her friends saw it, before it was…destroyed and made into something else. Basically, it looked like the towering buildings of a metropolis, with the way the doughnuts were masterfully stacked over each other, and how he used their glaze to emulate lit windows. He entered it within Canterlot's National Dessert Competition."

For some reason, I could find myself easily imagining Castelia City as though it were made of doughnuts. It looked delicious, and would send anyone eating it on a sugar rush for days.

I gripped another doughnut with my hooves and stuffed it down my throat, finding it difficult to concentrate on its taste. "…Did he win first prize?"

"He actually shared first place with three other entrees. Too bad that at the time, almost all of it was eaten in one bite, by one pony. I would've killed to have a piece."

This talk about food didn't help make the four remaining doughnuts in the box disappear. I still found myself uneasy in his presence. And I was about to learn why.

"I have a question for you." He said warmly.

"…" Against my diminished appetite, I feigned hunger and put another doughnut in my mouth, chewing it slowly. "…What is it?" I garbled with my mouth full.

"What were you doing earlier in Canterlot Castle?"

The urge to choke on my food was real, but I didn't give in to it. I've done enough of that in the past anyway. All I did was swallow my food and continue playing this cool, even though I was feeling my stomach grow heavy again.

"What are you talking about?" I attempted to deny this, as though this colt knight in shining armor was being delusional.

"I'm talking about you, and your presence within Canterlot Castle's bathing pool." He stated, his voice suddenly taking the quality that an interrogator would possess. His posture changed as well, as did his countenance. This pony appeared to me now as a different entity entirely. "What were you doing in there?"

At this point, lying would make me seem hostile, so I stopped doing just that. "I fell asleep. I was out like a light."

He didn't think of my words as truthful. "Were you trying to get intimate with Princess Celestia and Princess Luna?"

"…Who?" I said out of reflex, but found my statement redundant when I connected the fact that those were the names of the two winged unicorns that I escaped from.

"Or were you waiting to ambush them? To kidnap them or…or assassinate them?"

"…What?" This escalated quickly.

In a flash, he lunged right at me and held me by the light blue fur around my neck, with both of his front hooves. He held me up, dragged my body on top of the table, spilling both the chair that I was sitting on, alongside the box of remaining doughnuts, onto the paved floor. He looked at me with a face of growing spite towards me, and that was all I was focused on. Neither he nor I paid any attention to the fidgeting onlookers that saw this armored pony Poké-manhandle me.

"Who sent you to Equestria to kill our leader?!"

My attention diverted elsewhere. "How are you holding me up with your hooves like that? We don't even have fingers."

"What neighboring country sent you here?!"

Now he thinks I'm a spy. "…Did that doughnut you ate have too many sprinkles or something?"

My smart mouth was the first thing that he targeted, and I suddenly found myself flying back when he hit me with a magenta-colored projectile attack that he fired directly from his horn. I was launched back and skipped a couple of times on the sidewalk, like a smoothed stone over a calm pond. But I was quick in recovering myself from this and slid backwards on all four hooves until I stopped.

And before my eyes, I could see the citizens of this Canterlot city begin to scatter, like aboriginal Pokémon during a forest-fire. But one of these ponies didn't scatter, and that was the one that attacked me just now. Amongst the throngs of scattering ponies, he walked through them, focused entirely on me, a dark scowl marked on his white face. His horn continued glowing magenta, a strong sign that he wishes to finish the battle he began.

Part of me honestly wanted to join these screaming, fleeting ponies and run away from him. Part of me even wanted to tuck my tail in between my legs and bray at the top of my lungs again. But those thoughts were faint, because this pony that decided to confront me had no wings, and was slightly smaller than those two winged unicorns that I faced earlier, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna as I've now cemented their names to my memory.

In other words, I was confident in my abilities to take this cocky colt out.

He stopped walking forward when there was about twenty feet separating the two of us, with no other equine between us or around us, having fled the scene to avoid this inevitable confrontation altogether.

"You may have escaped from Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, but I won't let you escape from me." He spoke confidently, convinced of himself and of his abilities in battle. "As Captain of the Canterlot Royal Guard, it is my sworn duty to protect them from any confirmed and potential threats made onto them."

It turns out that my initial feelings of him were accurate. He appeared friendly but he was a hostile opponent to me. His armor, his explained rank to me, and now his currently arched battle stance proves it.

"Start talking. Why are you here?" He practically growled at me.

I wanted to tell him the truth, but I also had a strong suspicion that he wouldn't accept it. So I told him anyway, and left it up to him to decide.

"I don't know. All that I know is that I'm not from here, and neither is my friend." I explained. "You wouldn't happen to have seen a Vulpix here, have you? She's knee high, has red fur, and has six tails."

"…" My words appeared to stun him for a moment, but he appeared to shrug it off with a doubting countenance and quickly fired another one of those projectile attacks from his horn at me.

Another PROTECT in my part proved more than enough to make his attack pointless on me. And then when my shield disappeared after its one-time use, the drive to fight instantly transformed my body from its Ordinary Forme to its Resolute Forme.

The "Captain of the Canterlot Royal Guard" took immediate note of this and showed some apprehension to my slight, yet significant transformation.

"…What did you just do to yourself?"

My answer was immediate. "I just took on a form more suited to riding your pale white pony ass with."

Blazingly faster now, I ran right towards my opponent. I leapt once and the water spraying from all four of my hooves quickly spiraled around me for an AQUA JET attack. My opponent was taken entirely by surprise of my mastery over water, and took the full force of my attack, looking like a Bug-Type Pokémon on the windscreen of an incoming vehicle.

Like a jetpack that uses water for propulsion, I carried myself and him far across this Canterlot City in next to no time. We left the city limits and found ourselves over a vast open field, where he regained enough of himself to break my AQUA JET attack with a stab of his horn.

This disrupted the two of us and caused us to fall back down to grassy earth, rolling like tumbleweeds before regaining our postures on all four hooves. And when that happened, I found this resilient colt immediately return on the offensive against me. His horn still glowed magenta, and he elongated it through means that I don't entirely understand. He came rushing towards me with his horn made into the shape of a blade.

…Only for me to clash against it with my SECRET SWORD attack.

"Who are you?" He said with grit teeth and a clenched countenance masking a sense of astonishment over me. "You just fired water from your hooves without using any magic!"

"(Magic?)" This time, I kept my lack of information to myself and cemented that word into memory.

"What kind of a pony are you?!" He struggled to overpower me, but it felt like I was fighting a child.

I told him what I was because he was now partially listening. "I'm Keldeo, a Sacred Swordsman and one of four Swords of Justice!"

"…A Sword…of Justice?"

The information ingrained itself into his mind, but it also distracted him. I was able to parry his blade and give one rising slash across his underbelly. And were it not for the suit of armor he was wearing, I'm almost positive that I would've been able to see his entrails by now. But instead, I had the satisfaction of seeing him catapulted into the air, with the scar of my SECRET SWORD lining his plackart, before he landed directly on his head and then collapsed into a slump of himself.

My blade remained put, because I was almost certain that he wasn't rendered unconscious by my strength. And as it turns out, I was right. Although, when he did get up, he got up feebly, the blow to his head greatly affecting his sense of balance.

And as he was getting up, I couldn't help but notice a delivery truck floating in the air, with a handful of pegasi unloading its seemingly heavy cargo, items that wouldn't seem out of place in a cartoon gag.

In fact, from the looks of the gray pegasus with a yellow mane and tail, that I'm almost certain appears cross-eyed, there would be an accident waiting directly below where they were flying over.

And it just so happens to be this colt that I was clashing blades with earlier.

When he got up, he had no clue of the accident waiting overhead, and I felt it within my power to guide him towards it.

…So to speak.

I began with something simple. "What's your name, Captain of the Royal Guard?"

He appeared to be in a daze, from the way his eyes were rolling in two different directions and the way his body was swaying against the force of the gentle breeze passing by us.

"You mean…you don't know my name?" He slurred his words and appeared to have difficulty looking me in the eye.

"I told you I'm not from here." I continued speaking, looking up discreetly to see that cross-eyed pegasus begin to be handed a set of heavy items.

"My name…is Shining Armor." He identified himself to me. "Recently titled prince…after marrying Princess Mi Amore Cadenza…or Princess Cadance for short."

"(…Another princess?)" I digressed in thought, after recalling my near-death experience with Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. I almost didn't pay attention to this colt's name as a result, and I almost didn't follow up with my crude plan of shaking him off of my tail. "I have another question for you…Shining Armor."

"What…what is it?" He said while still dazed.

"Are you on pot?"

Like a perfectly timed joke, I could see a cascade of items begin to fall down from the sky, and onto Shining Armor's unprotected head. The first item that came down was a potted plant, and it left him stunned even further than when I flipped him.

"Pot head," I added, smiling at his misfortune.

Then an anvil came down from the heavens, and it crashed down on his head without crushing his skull or making him budge, as though he were a cartoon character in a kid's TV show. All it did was stop with a resounding clang, but now his eyes appeared to repel against each other, almost like magnets. And around his head, he was literally seeing stars.

"ACME called. They want their anvil back." I continued joking at his misfortune.

Now came down a wooden wagon with hay, and it buried him underneath the broken wood and piles of silage.

"Heeeeeey!"

Now came down one of the most clichéd props in a cartoon's arsenal. A piano. Shining Armor had already disappeared underneath the collection of splinters and straw, so the piano dropping down on him was the cartoon's equivalent of a good measure, almost like if a safe were to drop on him instead. And like the hay wagon, the piano just added to what has now become a pile of firewood.

"…I got nothing." I shrugged my shoulders and felt like I had overstayed my welcome here, if I was being hunted down by the authorities.

With my opponent defeated, I felt my body revert back to its Ordinary Forme and I fled the scene, galloping calmly rather than hastily, because there was nothing chasing me down now, and I intended to keep it that way if I come across another obstacle.

I didn't even pay any attention to what happened to that grey pegasus that dropped all of those items inadvertently down on Shining Armor. My guess is that he or she is being reprimanded.

When I was nearing what I presumed to be the city limits of Canterlot, I noticed a train station directly in front of me, ready to depart.

When I saw this, a multitude of thoughts raced across my mind. I contemplated that trains only exist to connect one place of civilization to another, meaning that this train station was connecting Canterlot to…potentially another pony civilization. Alongside this, I still held my hopes up that Foxfire had ended up within this world and that she was here somewhere.

Now was the perfect time to look elsewhere, because I highly doubt I would be given the chance to look in Canterlot if I remained here any longer.

"(Foxfire, wherever you are, I'll find you.)" I thought with determination and with commitment to the promise that I made to her father.

Just as I was seeing the steam engine blowing smoke and the train departing the station, I was still a minute or so away from reaching it. And just as this train had left the station altogether, I continued going after it, by reaching this station and turning sharply in the direction the train was barreling down, running alongside the tracks now. And when I did so, I'm almost certain I was receiving a few looks of astonishment at either my choice of actions or the sheer speed I was galloping down now.

…Or maybe because I had to pay to use this train or something. But I have no money, not on me or in me.

Once I was coming up on the caboose of the train, as it was now appearing to travel at full speed, I gave myself a rocket jump with water swiftly fired from my four hooves, somersaulted once, landed squarely on the roof, and successfully caught the rear car of this train.

I'd give it a nickname, but this isn't exactly the first time I've caught a train before in my life. It's my second time actually, and the first time that I've done so of my own free will.

Anyways, at this point in time, I simply dropped down onto my knees and belly, relaxing myself as I was enjoying the sights that this train was passing by.

This train passed through the mountainside that housed the city Canterlot that I escaped from. And after passing through the mountain tunnels, the train was chugging along on the ground, with valleys and hilltops in the distance. I found myself enjoying the view by my left and right sides, as well as the growing distance of Canterlot in the background. But when I traced my eyes along the train tracks to see where this locomotive was heading towards, my eyes quickly centered around a peculiar settlement.

A village, as large as a city.

As the train drew closer and closer by the second, I could see the little details of that town. I could see that almost all of the houses closely clustered around the land area―which in itself was almost entirely undisturbed but simply worked around―were thatched roofed, almost like cottages but belonging to buildings that mostly had one to three floors to them.

There was a relatively large mountain within what appears to be walking distance of this simple-looking city. And alongside this, there was an unbelievably large settlement of land neighboring this area that composed of one farm and what appeared to be tens of thousands of apple trees, maybe even more.

Within the town itself, I could begin to see a circular area of land that was mostly undisturbed, save for a circular building that I could only assume is like their town hall, with an elected official that runs the city.

But at the outskirts of this municipality, I could see a castle, composed of what I'm almost certain appears to be a crystalline tree. And on the apex of this castle, I could see what appears to be an eight-sided star, similar to the six-sided purple star I've been seeing in my dreams (and in reality) lately, but at the same time so very different.

And if I looked a bit further from this established settlement, I could see a wide expanse of land that looked as though two earthbound gods had themselves a vicious duel. The sky had the slightest tint of red, the earth was in pieces, and there appeared to be a trench dug out by means that looked far too rough to have been done by hand.

It looked as though it was created through a devastating beam of some kind, something that I find myself shuddering at the speculation of what exactly fired it, and who was the recipient of it.

But those thoughts ceased when I found myself narrowly toppling over the side of the roof when the train abruptly stopped against my attention. I felt my legs spread apart thinner than butter on toast, just to keep me balanced when the train came to a somewhat sharp stop. But when the train inevitably stopped at this station, I immediately jumped off and landed with a short burst of HYDRO PUMP to cushion my descent.

And the first thing that happened to me when I touched the soil of this city…

"HEY YOU! I've never seen you before!"

…was a greeting from two entities. One of them was a female pegasus with sky blue fur, magenta eyes, and a mane and tail that almost unnaturally emulated the six identifiable colors of a rainbow. And the other was the palpable ego that this winged pony possessed.

But when I found myself reeling my head back in fright at this spontaneous stranger, I realized that there was someone she was holding in between her hooves.

Someone that I was searching for, but didn't expect myself to find so quickly.

"Keldeo! I'm so glad you're here!"

"Foxfire?" I said, feeling a weight lifted off of my shoulders after seeing her wellbeing.

"What's going on, Keldeo?"

Naturally, she was just as clueless as I was when it came to where we were and how we got here. And while we both might not make any progress based on what we two alone know, a hypothetical and speculative conversation concerning such matters might enlighten us.

But before I could say a word, my excitement over Foxfire made me completely forget about who was carrying her.

"'Foxfire'?" The rainbow pegasus said after understanding what I said. "You know this fox?"

I found myself stalling for time when I realized that this flying horse understood the words coming out of my mouth, but not the ones coming out of Foxfire's mouth. Perhaps it had something to do with the reality of this world. After all, she is a pony. Every form of sentient life that I've encountered, when you erase their horns, wings, and bizarre choice of aesthetics on each of their…cheeks…is a pony. And as if Arceus has blessed me with good fortune, that will work in my favor in making my voice heard.

"Well? I'm waiting." She persisted. "I don't have all day you know!"

"…Yes! Yes, I know her." I finally exclaimed, and had my mind work overtime to formulate another lie. "She is my pet fox. She ended up behind when I caught the train to Canterlot. And in a panic, once I reached Canterlot's train station, I hitched a ride on the train returning back, to look for her."

Both this sky blue pegasus and the Vulpix that she was holding gave me quizzical looks, one for wondering if I was telling the truth or not, and the other for figuring out what this "Canterlot" place is, by my best guess. Nevertheless, after she thought it over, she saw no reason to doubt me, and she immediately landed on the ground and let Foxfire go. And like a puppy, Foxfire was all over my front left leg, hugging it tightly, comforted and reassured by my presence.

"Well, I can't argue with that logic. She is your pet." She stated after seeing Foxfire's immediate reaction to me. "Though I still think my tortoise is 20% cooler. After all, he can fly."

Then she turned her back to me to fly up, up, and away. And before she disappeared into the sky and took shelter in one of the clouds in the distance, I could see the tattoo she apparently wore on both of her flanks. It resembled a white cloud, with a lightning bolt that was colored blue, red, and yellow.

I looked back down at Foxfire, seeing that she was still clutching my front left leg tightly, albeit looking up at the rainbow pony that held her earlier as she had made her way back into the atmosphere. She looked back in to my eyes and appeared much more composed now that she was staring at a cool, familiar face.

…Even though the only thing separating me as a stranger in her eyes was one day's time.

"So Keldeo," She said with regained composure. "D-do you know what's going on?"

I'm sure she thought that I had all of the answers, or at least had a better understanding of our environment and present predicament than she did. But unfortunately, I only had this response for her, and it didn't make her feel any better.

"I'm just as clueless as you are, about where we are and how we got here." I began. "I just know that when you were assimilated into the darkness, I jumped after you to pull you out of it. But the darkness consumed me as well. And as it turns out, it transported us here, into a world where the word Pokémon doesn't seem to exist. Only the word 'pony'."

"Oh…" She loosened her grip on me, looked down to the dusty ground below our feet, and sighed. "H-how will we get home? W-will I see my father again?"

It seemed impossible, but that's because we had no concrete leads on where to begin, no obvious targets to look out for.

"Don't worry, Foxfire." I reassured her, even going so far as to lovingly nudge my face into her cheek. "We'll find a way. I promise you that."

With that said and done, I helped her onto my head, where she promptly hopped onto it and nestled herself within my red mane, almost in the same way that a motherly Zoroark would to her Zorua pup. She didn't get her entire body into my mane. Just her lower half. But when I felt her stop fidgeting herself once she was in a comfortable position, I felt equally comfortable in hoisting my head back up and making my way over to that town that I've departed the train to visit.

But I didn't get a chance to walk two steps forward before I felt something strong strike my ass and send me flying.

Foxfire and I separated in mid-flight and we both tumbled a few times on the dusty floor before coming to a halt. Foxfire was slower than I in getting back upright, mostly in part to the difference in experience we both possess. But as I was getting up, I realized that it wasn't under my power, because I was made paralyzed by whatever it was that struck me, when I noticed I was not only surrounded in some sort of light blue aura, but rising off of the ground because of it.

And when the source of this magic aura made itself present before me by flapping down from the skies, I felt myself grow cold at what stood before me.

It was another female winged unicorn, my third encounter with one today. However, unlike the white and black pair of horned pegasi that I now know as Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, this one appeared a bit smaller, but still possessed their similar lanky build. She was pink, her eyes were purple, and her mane and tail shined in three core colors: cream, magenta, and violet. She wore gold horseshoes, a small golden crown, and a gold necklace. And as for the gold tattoo she had on each side of her butt, they each displayed what appears to be a crystal heart, with mirror-like facets on the left and right side.

"So you're the Canterlot Castle intruder that my aunt has been talking about." She spoke with a surprisingly authoritative tone emanating from what I'm certain is a gentle and loving voice. "You're the little assassin or infiltrator or pervert that invaded Princess Celestia's and Princess Luna's bathing pool. And you're also the pony responsible for putting my husband in the hospital."

The strong urge to flat out deny her words as baseless claims escaped me when I found myself once again taking key information from the equines that I find myself speaking with. Within her three sentences, she states that Princess Celestia is her aunt (which would explain her strikingly similar appearance and features) and that Shining Armor is her husband (who I basically left for dead when I fled Canterlot).

"I don't know who sent you here or what business you have in Equestria…" She continued speaking, staring daggers into my soul. "But I'll see to it that you stand trial for your crimes committed here."

Equestria. That name was now mentioned twice to me. And now that such a name has stuck, I'm almost certain that "Equestria" is the name of the place that both Foxfire and I have found ourselves in, and that I've inadvertently gathered a bad name in.

…Speaking of Foxfire!

Lucky that I was still able to see her while paralyzed by this pink pony's power, I noticed that Foxfire had just managed to regain her quadrupedal posture, but lost it alongside me when my capturer captured her as well.

I wanted to say something, but my jaws were uncooperative and forcibly clenched shut. I was about to say something in Foxfire's defense through my telepathy, for fear of what this horned pegasus could potentially do to harm her. However, I found myself stunned at her spontaneous change of character.

"Aww! What a cute little foxy!" She squealed like a female human child. "I've never seen one with six tails before!"

I…didn't know what was stranger, the fact that she broke her serious character before me at the sight of a Pokémon that seems to be generally regarded as cute, or that she completely disregarded the purple Power Stone that she was wearing around her neck like a collar.

Her character didn't remain broken for long, after she looked back to me. "Shame on you, for dragging this poor little creature alongside your path of crime!"

I noticed that when Foxfire regained her senses, the first thing that she did was roll her eyes, as though she had been placed in a similar position before.

"If our court of justice puts you away for life, I'll be sure to take care of this 'widdle' cutie in your absence."

Her breaks of character made it difficult for me to take her seriously. But the fact that she had me at her mercy, both professionally and personally, I wasn't really offered a choice on the manner.

And in moments, this pink pony took flight, carrying the two of us alongside her for the ride, through what I've come to learn to be her "magic".

What happened after this was a story with a beginning, an end, and a big gaping hole in the middle. The beginning of this story was me returning to Canterlot Castle, where the pink pony cast a spell on me that made me fall fast asleep. After that, I don't know what they did to me in the middle, where they took me and what happened to Foxfire, though I do believe that she is safe because the pony life here think of her as irresistibly cute. And one does not simply kill cute.

The end of this story has me waking up in what appears to be a dark and depressing dungeon of sorts, incarcerated within one of its cells, with a locked wall of iron bars in front of me for a door. And to my sides, I saw what you could expect to find inside of a jail cell.

A crappy bed, an indiscreet toilet, and a sleeping white pegasus roommate with rippling muscles, shortly cut dirty-blond mane and hair, as well as a tattoo of a dumbbell on his buns of steel.

"(…Holy shit!)"

My senses returned to me at the sight of this gargantuan individual, and I found myself scooting ass backwards into the opposite wall, hoofs flailing and metallic chains jingling.

…Metallic chains?

I stooped scooting back almost as quickly as I began, when I realized that I was carrying much more weight on my hooves than I normally never do. I found out that all four of my hooves were being consumed by what appeared to be metallic bowling balls, most likely placed to prevent me from walking (or shooting water out of my hooves). And these four balls were connected to each other by three rows of chains, connected to each other to resemble a capital letter "I", and made short enough where bucking and running was entirely out of the question. Lastly, I noticed that I was wearing a bizarre helmet of sorts, one that only covered my horn instead of my skull, likely to prevent a "unicorn" such as myself to fire any "magic" from it.

The only thing that wasn't covered that I could channel my Fighting-Type or Water-Type attacks through was my mouth. And I was contemplating using either of the two to break myself out of these shackles and then out of this jail cell. But then I heard my roommate stir within our single bed, and open his red eyes at me.

The first thing that popped into my head was a hyperbolic fear of becoming a prison bitch and losing my virginity to a pony on steroids if I so much as dropped the soap in the shower we'd likely be sharing. But the first thing that I heard, from this ripped horse with puny wings and a gold earring on his left ear, was the absolute last thing that I expected from him.

"Hey, Keldeo!" he exclaimed in almost the same manner than a happy child would. "Did you sleep well?"

"…" Suffice to say, I found myself at a complete loss of words at this muscular pony's surprisingly gentle nature. So all I did was remain seated on the cold floor and nod with my head lurching forward after having been arched far back.

"So did I!" He shouted again, as though he was unable to or unaware of his volume of voice. "I dreamt that I was frolicking across the flower fields within Canterlot, picking up flowers for this cute yellow pegasus with a pink mane and tail."

"…Okay." I tried to relax immediately, but found myself doing so incrementally.

"Her name is Fluttershy!" He continued speaking with an arena voice instead of a 12-inch voice, and his eyes began to flitter, as though he was stricken with love. "And I hope to win her heart one day!"

I was beginning to relax a bit more now, enough so where I can strain a normal conversation with my…cellmate. "…She sounds like an angel."

"She is…" He sighed passionately.

Whoever this "Fluttershy" is, I had never met the damsel. And even if I had, I doubt she would be of interest to me. The closest individual that I have to a love interest is Virizion, but she's more of a mother to me.

I was about to change the topic and say who he was, but the sounds of unlocking doors at the end of the hallway echoed about this dungeon. Then the sounds of creaking, seldom used doors opening replaced the sounds of unfastened locks. Then the sounds of clopping hooves replaced the sounds of neglected doors. And then the sight of that same pink winged unicorn, alongside a couple of armored ponies that I'm almost certain were members of the Canterlot Royal Guard, replaced the pitter-patter of their approach to us.

Both of her Royal Guards―one pegasus and one unicorn―simply stood behind her, watching me closely and only me. Not this pallid powered-up pegasus.

And then this winged unicorn calmly opened the jail cell with the use of her magic, and looked at my cellmate with a comforting smile.

"Bulk Biceps," she addressed him by what I'm almost certain is his name. "Thank you for keeping an eye on Keldeo. You're free to go."

"Anything for you, Princess Cadance!" Bulk Biceps redundantly shouted as he got off of the cell's bed, bowed once for her, and just trotted away.

I couldn't help but notice how easily he took this as he disappeared from sight. "What was that about?"

Surprisingly, her tone of voice to me was loving, despite our present environment. "Oh, don't worry about him. He was just repaying me back for a favor in learning about writing love letters to a pony that he admires."

"So he was never doing time here to begin with?"

"Exactly." She responded a bit too cheerfully.

I found myself doubting this. "But he looks like he's on horse steroids!"

"I know. Even cross-eyed ponies can see that." She added. "But Bulk Biceps is one of the kindest ponies that I know. And I know one pony that can vouch for my claim."

"…Fluttershy?" I guessed.

She spontaneously looked at me quizzically. "How do you know her name?"

"Bulk Biceps told me, after I woke up." I said honestly, before looking down at my hooves. "…After I woke up with these balls and chains on me."

"Alright then." She stated positively, as though my physical bondage held no weight on her. "Can you still walk with those on you?"

Her presently tender loving voice was dubious to me, but I said nothing about it and just followed her commands, which were sounding more like polite favors. I got off of my rear and took a few slow steps towards her. My steps were slow because my movement was restricted, not because I was weighed down. After all, I'm half Fighting-Type. And those types of Pokémon are known for their strength.

"Yeah, I still can." I assured her, wondering why she was behaving so positively to me, when everybody seems to think that I'm a criminal.

"Good." She tilted her head to the door. "Come with me then."

With the gesture of a raised eyebrow, I did as Princess Cadance said and loudly made my way out of the cell. I found myself walking alongside Princess Cadance down the hallway, with both of her Royal Guards closely behind us, in case I tried anything funny. But I didn't wish to. I've already done so enough inadvertently, and I'm not a Pokémon that would do so deliberately.

That being said, I still had a question or two to say to my "Pokémon Trainer".

"You're acting surprisingly nice to me, even after what happened to your husband."

Her face showed the slightest signs of me pushing a wrong button, and frowned ever so slightly. However, it appears as though I didn't press the wrong button, or didn't press enough of them, or didn't press it hard enough. Because, her response back to me was one of reassurance, not to herself but to me.

"All you did was fight him. You didn't injure him." Princess Cadance began to explain. "You were defending yourself against Shining Armor. Your one and only strike on him was against his armor. You could've easily decided to aim elsewhere, but you simply flipped him."

"How do you know that?"

"He told me himself, after I visited him in the hospital." She told me, with next to no spite towards me for fighting her husband.

"…How did he survive those objects that fell on him anyway?"

"He's had worse," She assured me, in the same way that a black knight would shrug off a mutilated arm. "Besides, a splitting headache, some lacerations, embedded splinters, and broken bones are easy to tend to with healing spells, potions, and a bit of rest. He'll be sore tomorrow morning, but he'll be just fine the day after that."

Shining Armor's condition couldn't help but astound me. "(He may not be a Pokémon, but he certainly heals like one.)"

"Would you believe that the same exact thing happened to my sister-in-law?" She joked. "And by the same pony too. Ditzy Do is her name, but everybody calls her 'Derpy Hooves'."

"I'll have to thank her if I ever meet her again." I found myself saying.

"Perhaps, or perhaps not." She replied ascetically. "Whether you're proven guilty of your accused crimes or not, in court, will determine that."

"…Do you think I'm guilty?" I told her.

Her response felt honest to me by how quickly it was thought out. "I don't know. Personally, I've never seen your face here before, but you don't seem hostile. One look at your face tells me that you fight for good, not evil. To me, you just seem to have gotten yourself into some situations beyond your power to control."

"That's…reassuring." I muttered, before find my eyes opening wide after recalling what she did to me and my friend. "What did you do with Foxfire?"

"Who?" She said at first, before her face spontaneously became as adorable as the Pokémon I was with earlier. "Oh! You mean your cute widdle fox. Don't worry. I left her under the care of the friends of your lawyer."

By now, we were clearly out of the holding cells and making our short way to what appeared to be a pair of doors that led to a massive room, based on the fact that no other doors could be seen across this hallway. A hallway that looked exactly like that that I made a braying mad dash across, when I was still in Canterlot Castle.

When we stopped walking, her last sentence led to my last question.

"Who's defending me in court?"

Princess Cadance simply smiled at me before giving me her short answer.

"My sister-in-law."

When the doors opened, what I saw before me was a sight that, despite being a Pokémon representing justice, I had very little knowledge of.

I saw a courtroom, a full courtroom, with benches and tables and sides dedicated to those for the officials involved in…my trial. The entirety of the area appeared…Greek, from the wooden carvings to the white stone pillars acting as the walls and the supports for the high ceiling.

And as Princess Cadance signaled me to step in, I could see and even feel the cold metal of the dagger-like glares of the ponies within this building. In fact, I found myself briefly scanning myself to see if I wasn't bleeding.

After that, I didn't look at anyone straight in the eye. I simply remained calm, walking forward to my designated location, knowing my side of the story and hoping that side of the story is made clear by whoever is defending me…and whoever is prosecuting me.

But as I found myself taking a seat in the witness stand, front and center within the courtroom, and looked around myself at the key players that were around me, I noticed that there was no one of the sort. I saw no lawyer, no prosecutor, and even no judge.

However, I did see Foxfire within the spectator gallery. She was surrounded by five other ponies. One of them was that rainbow-mane pegasus that apparently found Foxfire for me. Another one was a pegasus with yellow fur and a pink mane and tail. Futtershy perhaps? And as for the other three, I had never seen them before. One was a pink pony with a cotton candy hairstyle, another was a white unicorn who appears to pamper her appearance with cosmetics, and the last was an orange pony with a cowboy hat. They all appeared to take turns with holding Foxfire, caressing her, cuddling her, much to her trying patience of their showering and respectfully silent affection.

She was the only individual within this room that wasn't glaring at me.

"Don't worry, Foxfire." I spoke to her through selective telepathy. "Whatever they're accusing me of, I know for a fact that I'm innocent. And after showing them my side of the story, we'll begin looking for answers in how we were transported here."

Foxfire wanted to nod back to me, but too many gingerly petting hooves were making it difficult for her.

Then I heard Princess Cadance begin to speak.

"All rise for the Honorable Judge Last Rites."

"(Wait, what was his name?)" I found myself thinking nervously.

Before my eyes, I saw every single colorful and diverse pony within this courtroom stand up one by one, until they were all standing and staring intently at the area where the judge was supposed to be seated.

My eyes looked over towards the Judge's dais, just in time to see a flash of light around his seat. And when the light ceased as quickly as it came, as if by magic, stood a bald and elderly unicorn with a white beard as long as my red mane, wearing a black judge coat that covered everything that wasn't his face, and carrying a wooden gavel with his glowing pallid horn.

I looked at him briefly, and found myself looking away when he scowled back at me.

And then Judge Last Rites spoke, and I could tell from his deep tone of voice that alongside his somewhat advanced age, he carried immense authority and experience.

"Please be seated."

As though this pony's words were holy law, everybody seated themselves, and I could hear the upholstery give way to the rear ends of at least a hundred horses.

"Very well. This court is now in session."

Last Rites seated himself down as well, but his magic grip on his gavel never faltered. He stroked his beard and darted his eyes over to his left side, which was also at my own left. And in the area where my defense should be, there was still nothing. Everybody had their eyes trained there, and stared on at something that doesn't exist.

Or so I thought.

"Is the Defense ready?"

All eyes were trained to the sight of another brief flash of light. And as was the case with Judge Last Rites, another pony teleported out of nowhere and appeared here, as if by magic. Or a powerful use of psychic abilities? I'm still unsure.

She as well as her eyes was purple, with a long and somewhat simple hairstyle to both her mane and tail. And the color of her hair was dominantly a shadowy purple, with both a magenta and plum streak running down the middle of both her mane and tail. Also, she was yet another winged unicorn, much like the Princesses Cadance, Celestia, and Luna that I've encountered and met before her.

Her "butt tattoo" however, was what drew my attention when I eventually found myself looking right at it. It is precisely what I saw in my dreams.

And right alongside her was another individual that I almost overlooked. He was a dragon, a baby dragon, adorably small and only tall enough to reach the flank of whom I presume to be is my lawyer. He's bipedal, light purple, with grass green eyes and equally so scales lining the entirety of his arrowhead tail, up his back, and making up the "mohawk" on his head. His underbelly and the scales making his "ears" were a green of a paler variety.

And in his arms was a small stack of paper files, which he immediately put down on the table with determination and vigor.

"The Defense is ready, Your Honor." She said simply, a look of uncanny determination clear on her…strangely befriending countenance.

Before my ears, I suddenly heard the sounds of cheers and applause for this purple pony. I found myself taken aback by this, especially when I noticed that the Judge himself joined in on their merriment.

"Princess Twilight Sparkle and Spike," Judge Last Rites addressed them by their names, names that I find myself quickly committing to my memory. "The Honor is your own. Your recent actions alongside your friends have prevented all of Equestria from falling into the control of Lord Tirek."

"Thank you, Your Honor," She replied humbly. "But my actions and newfound position as The Princess of Friendship would not be possible on my own."

Trying my hardest to contain my astonishment at the fourth winged unicorn princess, I noticed that she and Spike looked over into the spectator gallery, and those five ponies that were "taking care" of Foxfire were waving their hooves and cheering her. And within my mind, I found myself making more connections about these particular ponies.

"(So this Spike and those five ponies are friends of Twilight Sparkle's.)" I contemplated, before realizing something else. "(And Twilight Sparkle is Princess Cadance's sister-in-law…which would make Shining Armor her brother.)"

"Our friendship is magic." Twilight continued speaking admirably and respectfully to those that she loves, as though her words were an unquestionable truth. "And together, we can overcome anything."

Judge Last Rites stroked his beard with closed eyes and nodded at the understanding of this, apparently having heard so much about Twilight Sparkle, her friends, and her accomplishments alongside them. Unfortunately for me, all I know is that her ass―the six-sided star on her ass― is what I've been seeing in my dreams alongside in reality, and that she is defending me as my lawyer, her and Spike both.

And then I saw Judge Last Rites look over towards his right, and everybody else did so as well. But they did so with much less immediateness, and appeared much more apprehensive of the matter.

"Is the…Prosecution ready?" He said with a heavy sigh.

The way he said that made it seem as though a bad omen took the form of my prosecution. And in a way, he was right. Because as was the case before, we all found ourselves looking at nothing before nothingness gave way to something. And when this something appeared in the form of a plume of smoke taking the form of a tall, thin figure, I still found myself thinking of it as a "something".

Because what I saw, as the prosecutor of this trial, was something that resembled a dragon. Of course this "something", through my comprehensive power in attempting to make sense of it, looked as though Arceus Itself created it after having gotten drunk on gallons of fermented Berry juice. There was no uniformity whatsoever with this beast. I saw far too many random parts making up one body that it was painful of me to contemplate what body part belongs to what animal.

So I stopped thinking about that, just in time to hear a collection of groans and even a rise of boos and hisses echo about this courtroom.

But to this…chaotic amalgamation of biology, its reaction to this was to laugh, and laugh heartily.

"The Prosecution is as ready as ever, Your Honor." This beast spoke with a male voice and a silver tongue, making his words seem almost irresistible and impossible to ignore. "And by the sounds of my standing ovation, they're as eager as I am to get this case underway."

In response to this, more boos and hisses were heard throughout the courtroom. However, a small collection of individuals didn't boo him. This collection included Princess Cadance, Twilight Sparkle, her five friends, Spike, Foxfire, myself, and Judge Last Rites.

Of course, he might not be doing so because he was focused on the gavel he was lifting up with his magic.

DUNN! DUNN! DUNN!

Just a few forceful smacks of his gavel against its respective wooden block was enough to silence the throng of spite towards this long and slender…dragon?

"Members of the Jury," Judge Last Rites reprimanded. "You are implicated to disregard any personal feelings towards these individuals, no matter how…perfidious these individuals used to be."

The Judge then gave one brief glance to the prosecutor, before rolling his eyes at the sight of him.

"…Discord." He said his name, making it now known to me, but probably uttered it to prove his point.

"Guilty as charged, Judge." Discord continued to sweet-talk the highest authority in court. "And I'm glad I didn't get away with it because of these six meddling ponies and their baby dragon."

"…" Judge Last Rites appeared distraught, before looking over towards an individual he appeared to tolerate unanimously better. "Twilight Sparkle, remind me and the adjudicators why he isn't being charged with treason, let alone doing time in prison or facing a death sentence?"

"To make a long story short," She began to explain. "The Magic of Friendship gave him a change of heart."

"And I'm very much thankful of that, Princess of Magic." Discord added.

Then, before my eyes, he disappeared from his side of the court and appeared directly beside Twilight Sparkle, with no sense of respect for her personal space, or personal space in general. He was practically speaking right into her ear, and Twilight didn't seem to mind.

"Nevertheless, despite what bright futures we may share together as friends, I'll never forget the first time that we met."

"…As enemies." Twilight said flatly.

"Correct. And this will be just like old times. Only the stakes are no longer that of Ponyville being made into the Chaos Capital of the World. They are of the fate of this little pony with a herculean water retention deficiency."

"(If I had a Berry for every time I heard something like that told of me…)" I thought, feeling my eyelids close halfway. "(…I'd be obese.)"

SNAP!

"You are the lawyer…"

SNAP!

"And I am the prosecutor."

With a snap of his fingers, I noticed that Discord gave himself a magenta suit, Twilight Sparkle a blue suit alongside a strange spike "manestyle", and Spike a black dress that looked completely out of place on him, because it is best worn by one of those busty human females who feel that they should show off a bit of cleavage. Discord teleported back to his respective spot, losing his suit as a result. Twilight used her magic to strip down back to her buff, and shook her head to revert her mane back to normal. And Spike hastily burned down his gender-bending wardrobe with a breath of green fire.

With the bizarre theatrics between these two out of the way, Judge Last Rites turned his attention towards me.

"Defendant," he referred to me by. "Please state your name and occupation for these good folk."

Now I felt like I was back on the hot seat, when all eyes turned towards me. Only now, I have three extra pairs of eyes staring right into me. And of those three, only the purple eyes of Twilight Sparkle were the ones that I saw the most comfort in. But after looking at Twilight's comforting and reassuring face, I looked back at the Judge and stated myself for these ponies.

And I held nothing back.

"My name is Keldeo." I said with honor for myself and for my actions. "And I'm not of this world."

When I dropped that bombshell, the courtroom was echoing the resurgence of commotions of the ponies in attendance to my trial. Everybody appeared to look at me with a new light, not seeing me as a pony, but now seeing me as an alien.

Everybody except for Foxfire, as well as the four individuals that were responsible for the eventual outcome my trial. Spike and Twilight Sparkle didn't seem entirely fazed by this revelation, as though they suspected this and now knew for certain. Discord appeared to find this amusing, and I could almost see the gears turning within his head. And as for Judge Last Rites, well, he just kept on stroking his beard with closed eyes.

I continued. "In the world where I come from, I'm not labeled as a pony, but as a Pokémon."

"And what in Celestia's name is a…Pokémon?" Judge Last Rites asked, speaking for everyone in never hearing such a name before.

"It's actually an abbreviation for 'Pocket Monster'." I added in quickly before returning to the topic. "Anyway, within that world, I'm no ordinary Pokémon. I'm a Legendary Pokémon. And Pokémon labeled as such are elusive Pokémon, with greater levels of strength than most others."

"'Labeled as such'?" The Judge repeated my words. "How many 'Legendary' Pokémon are there."

"Dozens."

Once again, more commotion was audible within the courtroom. Because now, as my words were being believed, I was more than an alien. I was a rare alien. One who bears a mighty title.

"Dozens?" Judge Last Rites said in mild astonishment.

"That's right, your honor." I confirmed and continued. "Every single Pokémon, where I come from, possess powers that I'm certain many of you listening to me right now have trouble fathoming. Most Pokémon can wield the elements, manipulate their environments, or create matter out of nothing. The most powerful of Pokémon, the Legendary Pokémon in particular, are labeled as such because their power, in comparison to others, commonly borders on the line of absolute."

"…" Judge Last Rites abruptly stopped stroking his beard, and all surrounding ambience ceased.

"Legendary Pokémon rule the skies, the weather, the oceans, and the land. Some can infiltrate dreams and cause nightmares. Others manifest emotion, knowledge, and willpower. And a select few of these even reign over space and time itself. But none of this wouldn't be possible if not for the Original One birthing the universe when only chaos and nothingness existed when It came to be."

"…'It'?" Just Last Rites almost struggled in saying that.

"Yes." I confirmed once again. "Arceus is Its name. And where I come from, just about every Pokémon alive considers the Alpha Pokémon as our God."

I almost expected more commotion from my onlookers, but all I was feeling was more dagger-like glares. However, these glares felt dulled and rusted, as though the wielders behind them were feeling the same way.

Out of fear.

But those of my pair of lawyers and of my prosecutor felt as sharp as usual. Perhaps because they have a better imagination compared to others? Or perhaps because they understand the word "power" better than most? I can't say for certain because I can't read minds.

"…And what can you do?"

"Me?" I expected this question. "Where I come from, I'm one of four Legendary Pokémon that either goes by the titles 'Sacred Swordsman' or 'Sword of Justice'."

"So you're like The Three Pony Musketeers?" A rough and childlike voice suddenly spoke up.

All eyes, including my own, turned to the baby dragon known as Spike. And when all eyes turned to him, he noticed this and appeared to succumb to a bit of stage fright.

"Who?" I asked him, never hearing this comparison before.

"You know… 'All for one, and one for all'?" His voice grew meek but he still spoke to me to get his point across. "It's the story of a young pony named d'Artagnan as he leaves home to Maris, Prance to join the Musketeers of the Royal Guard."

"Spike, how do you know that?" Twilight said, obviously unaware of Spike's knowledge of the matter.

"Eh, I got bored and read one of your books during a rainy day." He said straightforwardly and with a shrug.

Even though Spike's story of The Three Pony Musketeers sounded like something I've never heard of before, the brief synopsis he gave me was something that I found…nostalgic familiar.

"…Yes." Was all I could say on the matter.

Judge Last Rites immediately chimed in. "So you're no stranger to fighting and killing then?"

My attention returned to My Honor. "Fighting, yes. Killing however is something that, as a Sword of Justice, we resort to as our absolute last option."

"Explain." He said simply, the use of the word "killing" obviously having a pronounced weight in a Court of Law.

"I don't kill others for the sake of it, and certainly not for the enjoyment of it or for the benefit of another. If I have killed others, then it's simply self-defense in my part…"

I briefly looked over to the spectator stands, and tried my best to point a weighted hoof over at Foxfire.

"…to protect those that I love, such as my pet Foxfire up there."

To the five ponies that were holding her and keeping her company, they could see their held Vulpix wag all six of her tails.

"So, Sword of Justice," Judge Last Rites concluded. "You fight for the sake of protecting others. Is this correct?"

"Absolutely." I nodded, feeling my truthful story begin to make an impression in this trial. "That's what heroes do anyway."

"Interesting," was all that he said before he changed the subject abruptly. "Because, Keldeo, you presently stand in court under a multitude of charges that 'heroes' don't normally succumb to."

I knew this, but found myself silenced by the weight of the matter.

"You are charged with trespassing, vandalism, stalking, sexual assault, rape, voluntary manslaughter, conspiracy, assault with a deadly weapon, disturbing the peace, evading a Peace Officer, hit & run, and robbery."

"…" I felt myself go dry at the mouth when I heard the list of charges pressed against me. "…In that order?"

"Yes." Judge Last Rites said simply before he looked over towards the creature of a dozen assorted animal parts. "Prosecutor Discord, bring out the first witness."

"Oh ho ho!" Discord's first reaction to this was to laugh, at a joke that I fail to see the punch line of. "I'm gonna need some popcorn for this."

The instant that the first witness was brought in, I could see the fire burn within her eyes, which thankfully remained as so.

…Until she suddenly rushed me, and her nose was practically glued right on my own.

"How dare you break into my castle, invade my bathing pool, rape me, and flee!" Princess Celestia practically breathed fire upon me.

I may not be a Fire-Type Pokémon, but water can still boil and heat up as intensely with the lot of them.

"Well, what do you have to say for yourself?!"

I didn't appreciate her getting all up in my face like this, and decided to throw her off. "Where's your trial?"

"…Excuse me?!"

"I'm being tried for rape. Why aren't you being tried for attempted murder?"

Her fire quelled, but she was still in my face. "…Are you saying that I tried to kill you?"

"I'm saying that my nose was sticking out of the pool, allowing me to breathe above the water's surface, like a snorkel." I felt like explaining myself. "You came along, sat on me, and I couldn't breathe."

"…What are you saying?"

"Do the terms 'Third Base' or 'Drowning in Pussy' mean anything to you?"

Her pale white face began to glow bright red, as did the majority of everyone else's within the courtroom.

"Oh, you are so d―!"

"Also, I can still smell vanilla." I added that in as my final verbal blow to her.

"…!"

When she realized that, her reaction was nothing short of priceless. She sniffed my snout, then stepped back as though I spooked her. Her face was now a bright red, out of genuine embarrassment instead of rage. And the growing laughter within the courtroom only made her recluse herself even more.

She still glared spitefully at me, but I was laughing too hard to care.

DUNN! DUNN! DUNN!

"ORDER! ORDER, I SAY!" Judge Last Rites silenced us all with his authority and hammer. "Defense, you may begin to cross-examine the―"

The Judge was silenced when he noticed that both Spike and Twilight appeared…indisposed. Twilight was lying prone on her table, unconscious, with her tongue sticking out and blood running down her nose. And as for Spike? Well, I can't see him. I guess he fell back when he fainted and is now lying on the floor.

"…witness."

With a groan and a roll of his eyes, Judge Last Rites reluctantly turned his attention over towards the prosecutor. But when he did so, he had no words to say.

Discord appeared nonchalant of the…perverse situation, and was holding a steaming cup of coffee, a mocha from what I found myself still fortunate for being able to smell anything that wasn't vanilla. The prosecutor smelled the warm, chocolaty aroma of his latte, and drank a few mouthfuls of it. And then out of nowhere, he did a spit take with his beverage, and passed out alongside my Defense.

What happened after this was the Judge sighing heavily at the chain reaction of events that just happened, and Princess Celestia alongside Princess Cadance rushing over to the aid of both the lawyers and the prosecutor.

"…We'll just take a 15 minute recess now." The Judge said before dunning his gavel in defeat. "And then bring out our next witness."

Part of me felt like this was more of a scripted courtroom drama between numerous actors, and I was in the front row amongst the audience. Because, when Princess Celestia left after nudging Discord, Spike, and Twilight Sparkle back to consciousness, and then tended to Twilight's nosebleed, Judge Last Rites was already calling forth the second witness.

Of course, as it turns out, he didn't come alone.

When the doors to the entrance of the courtroom opened, I saw a familiar face. The face of Shining Armor, partially wrapped up in bandages alongside about a fourth of his body. He was sitting in what appeared to be a wheelchair that was modified to work on ponies, and was being wheeled in here by a pale white unicorn with a nurse hat and a red cross for a "butt tattoo".

She positioned Shining Armor in the center of the court and stood by his side, just as Twilight Sparkle grasped the moderate extent of her brother's injuries, and reacted as expected to them.

"What happened to you, B.B.B.F.F.?!" She exclaimed in horror, understandably discarding her sense of professionalism.

"(…'B.B.B.F.F.'?)" I thought, confused by the abbreviation.

"Twily!" Shining Armor responded to the concern of her sister, before addressing her question. "Don't worry about me. It's just a flesh wound."

Then he looked over towards me and square in my eyes, even though I was presently distracted by my own thoughts at the moment.

His eyes narrowed at the sight of me. "Are you…defending him?"

"We're in a courtroom, and Spike and I are his lawyers." Twilight explained. "So, yeah. I'm defending Keldeo."

"(It sounds an awful lot like 'B.F.F.')" I continued digressing. "(And if my memory of human sayings is true, then that acronym stands for 'Best Friends Forever'.)"

"…Why?" Shining Armor said sourly.

"It's because he's different." Twilight explained. "Do you recall my initial experience with Zecora, how my friends and I alienated ourselves from her?"

"…Yes." He said, getting a feeling for where this was going.

"(So then what does the first and second 'B' stand for?)" I thought. "(I'm almost certain I already know.)"

"Well, we ultimately learned that she wasn't an 'Evil Enchantress'. Just a Zebra that came from a culture and a lifestyle that was vastly different from our own."

"And do you think your client is anything like her?" Shining Armor put me right into the fire.

"To a similar extent, yes." She strongly believed.

"What if he's evil?" He said flatly.

"Does he look evil to you?"

Once again, Shining Armor looked my way, straining his neck and his injured body as a result.

"(…Oh! It stands for 'Big Brother'. 'Big Brother Best Friends Forever'!)" I finally figured it out and smiled dumbly at my success.

"…" Big Brother was watching me, even when I wasn't at the moment.

When I found myself looking at him right in the eye and noticing his countenance, the first thing that I did was pause for a few seconds because he was using Glare like a Seviper. But then, I strained myself a bit to raise my front right hoof at him and wave it casually.

"Sup!" Was all I said before my balled hoof came down with a metallic clang.

"…Something in my gut still tells me that I can't trust him."

I noticed that his belly was unscathed, and found myself shuffling nervously at the recollection of sending him flying with a slash across his torso.

"Don't worry, Shiny." Twilight said almost teasingly. "I'll prove to you that he's innocent."

With that, the Judge spoke after his brief hiatus. "Bring out Exhibit A."

After a remarkably short period of time, what was brought out as a first piece of evidence to confirm my guilt or innocence was the armor that Shining Armor originally wore when we clashed briefly. And as it was examined, the graze that I left across the plackart was highlighted, and pointed directly towards me by Prosecutor Discord that I attempted to land a fatal blow on him.

"He believed wrong of me from the start, just as Princess Celestia and Princess Luna before him." I explained for myself. "Celestia thought that I vandalized her castle, but I simply dropped in from my home world, through forces that I have difficulty comprehending. She thought that I raped her, but she simply sat on my nose without even knowing of my presence."

Discord appeared to tremble when I mentioned the fact that Princess Celestia sat on my face. He briefly looked away from me, making it impossible of me to gauge his emotions. For all that I know, he's hiding a blush, or perhaps something else. Envy? Anger?

"...What's your point with your defensive claims?" Discord eventually commented, a lingering growl in his words.

"The graze that I left on his armor was meant to keep him away from me, not kill him." I continued explaining for myself. "He picked a fight with me, shortly after I sheltered myself from both Princesses. And if I wanted to kill him―which I'm not saying I wanted to―, why would I aim for the part of his body that was protected? I would've aimed for his neck or his head, areas that I feel the Canterlot Royal Guard should be better protected from."

My rebuttal came from Shining Armor, and it wasn't in the form of a rebuttal.

"If I had my helmet, I would've stood a better chance against you."

"Where is your helmet then?" I asked him.

In moments, all eyes turned to Discord, because he was literally wearing the answer.

On his head, Discord was wearing the gold/purple high-ranking helmet with the brush crest on the crown. And when Discord noticed that all eyes were on him, his reaction to this was of absolute nonchalance.

"How do I sign up for the Canterlot Royal Guard?"

One witness led to another. And the witness that followed after Shining Armor was a pony that I didn't expect.

It was that cross-eyed gray pegasus again. Derpy Hooves was her nickname, even if there were some ponies that didn't know that.

"Ditzy Do," Judge Last Rites began. "If you would please be kind as to―"

"It's Derpy Hooves, sir." She said, having difficulty looking at him with both eyes.

"Pardon?"

"Everyone calls me Derpy Hooves," She continued.

"…Why?" Judge Last Rites wondered why she would favor a nickname over her real name.

"I think it's because of my special eyes." She said so innocently. "Ponies like my special eyes. And I like them too."

"…" Judge Last Rites stared at her quizzically, unsure of which eye to focus on because they both looked on in two completely different directions. "…How do you function?"

"Just like everyone else in Equestria." She missed the point. "I pay my taxes one leg at a time. I wake up in the morning, kiss my husband before he going to work, take my daughter to school, and enjoy a muffin for breakfast, then one for lunch, one for dinner, and sometimes―"

"I meant how you function with those 'special eyes' of yours." Judge Last Rites corrected, almost raising his voice as a result.

"Oh…my bad…" Derpy prolonged saying that word when she understood what the Judge meant. "Well, I've had my eyes like this for as long as I can remember. They make it hard for me to fly without bumping into things. But they do help me see two things at the same time."

"So you saw the moment where Keldeo and Shining Armor confronted each other in combat?"

Her thinking face was unusual. Her eyes centered around the bridge of her nose, and her face puckered. She remained like this before nodding, recalling what she saw.

"Then please, enlighten the court with what you witnessed."

"Okay!" She said happily, before turning to face Twilight Sparkle. "I'm sorry."

"We've been over this before, Derpy," Twilight explained out of nowhere. "I'm fine. No long-term harm done."

In my mind, I recalled that Princess Cadance told me that Derpy dropped a collection of items on Twilight Sparkle before, and I kept that thought to myself as I overheard her.

"Oh… Okay!" She drew out her words again like a child, before facing Shining Armor this time. "I'm sorry."

At first, Shining Armor appeared a bit livid from his current condition because of her, but that moment subsided after looking at both of her eyes. "…It's alright. Accidents happen."

After that, she turned over towards me and tilted her head in both directions as she appeared to be analyzing me with each eye.

Her carefree and straightforward glance towards me was welcoming, albeit a bit odd with the way her eyes worked. "Uh…hi?" Was all I said as she was inspecting me.

When she was done, she smiled at me with closed eyes and a happy countenance. "I really like your mane."

I wanted to give her my thanks for the actions that she inadvertently did on Shining Armor, but instead, I found myself saying "Thank you" for her compliment.

These three witnesses, as it turns out, were the only three that were brought in for questioning. Their individual testimonies all involved me and my actions that have led them to believe that I was some sort of assassin, sexual predator, and/or spy. And while the only evidence of this case came in the form of Shining Armor's Royal Guard chestplate, alongside the hole I left in Canterlot Castle, that wasn't enough to prove to them that I was guilty.

And as my word was taken as equally as their testimonies, my truth publically dissected in court, to see if it was genuinely so or just a lie in disguise, the truth of the matter became clearer and clearer to Judge Last Rites, Lawyers Spike and Twilight Sparkle, and Prosecutor Discord.

But as this puzzle was coming together, one piece remained elusive.

"So, Keldeo," Judge Last Rites began to conclude. "Review to me what you're standing so strongly on."

"You mean these balls and chains that I have on my hooves?"

"…" Judge Last Rites had no sense of humor, and gave me a cold stare.

"Sorry." I said before explaining myself for the final time. "I'm saying that, shortly after coming to this world, I regained consciousness and discovered that I was freefalling. I protected myself when I crashed into Canterlot Castle, and ended up passing out again, inside the bathing pool that was about to be used by Princess Celestia. And after she sat on my face and I felt my snout delve into one of the places in her body where the sun rarely shines…"

"Why you little―!" Princess Celestia was about to swear to me, but Bailiff Princess Cadance kept her aunt in check.

"…She pulled out of me and I found myself braying for my life as I ran away from her and Princess Luna. Shining Armor encountered me later and confronted me on those matters. I fought defensively against him, until Derpy Hooves dropped her entire load all over Shining Armor's body."

"Heh heh…" Derpy Hooves laughed at the sound of that, before her face puckered once more. "Wait a minute…"

"After that, I fled Canterlot and boarded a train towards Ponyville, so that I could begin my search for my lost friend Foxfire."

"You're welcome!" The rainbow pony shouted at me, much to the displeasure of most of the ponies in the room.

"And just after she and I were back together, Princess Cadance arrested me and here I am now."

The only piece missing to the truth of my puzzling story was one that Judge Last Rites attempted to seek an answer to.

"Do you know what exactly brought you and Foxfire into Equestria?"

"Unfortunately yes," I still recalled those black bug-like shadows vividly. "In short, they looked like eminences of darkness."

"But you don't know what they are specifically, do you?" Twilight Sparkle wondered.

"Unfortunately, no," I looked her way and told her. "I don't even know how they came to be, where they come from or what agenda they may have."

"I know how I came to be." Discord spontaneously began to speak. "But alas, I can't begin to describe my birth without scarring a few dozen souls."

Some eyes turned to a few ponies in the spectator gallery, while others turned to Spike.

Judge Last Rites appeared to disregard Discord's statement to the best of his ability before focusing on mine. "Well, unless we've seen these creatures for ourselves, my verdict can't be established until more information regarding these entities of darkness has been brought into light."

At first, I felt like protesting against his choice of actions because I knew that I was about to be proven innocent. But what stopped me wasn't an outcome against my hard-worked intentions. Instead, it came from an ominous chill I felt run across my spine.

Of course, that chill came from a cool breeze that I felt was coming from behind my back, shortly after I heard the doors open with a resounding crack against the walls.

I turned around behind my back to see that the court room door was open, just as everybody else noticed alongside me. And all eyes quickly widened by what we saw standing in the middle of the passageway.

Princess Cadance. Her pink hide appeared battered, bruised, and even bleeding in a few areas. She appeared to us as if she had just escaped within an inch of her lives, as evident by the fact that she quickly toppled over onto the hard floor and passed out from whatever ordeal she appears to have endured.

"Princess Cadance!"

I overheard Twilight Sparkle shout in concern before flying over towards her. But as I soon noticed, she never made it past halfway. In fact, nobody else appeared to react to her condition and tend to her. And the reason for that became clear to me, even if it left me perplexed.

"Did…did time just stop?" I muttered, seeing the courtroom around me pause like Dialga's heartbeat.

Not surprisingly, I found myself startled when I felt a hoof poke me a few times on the shoulder. I turned around, wondering what was currently defying my present perception of reality, only to see the other Princess Cadance standing before me, staring warmly into my eyes, as if she were suddenly enamored by my flowing red mane or my bulbous nose.

The urge to properly respond to this Princess Cadance almost overpowered me, but I suppressed it long enough to realize that something was amiss. There were now two winged unicorns of the exact same living being present within the court room, which means that one of them is an imposter. The condition that the second Princess Cadance was in led me to believe that she is the real one.

Then, that would make the first Princess Cadance the‒

*Smack*

I found my thoughts careening to a dead halt when I felt her suddenly kiss me in the lips, eyes closed and her upper limbs wrapped over my back in a loving embrace. I found my eyes growing heavy from the passion of this moment, for all of the wrong reasons. Because when we broke apart from this kiss, my eyes continued to droop and her lavender eyes still looked at me amorously.

But when they flashed a sickly green, and her tender countenance warped into one of malevolent ambition, I felt something was amiss.

"You belong to me now, unicorn." She spoke with a voice unlike that of Princess Cadance. It sounded malevolent, distorted, belonging to a femme fatale villain instead of a sweet and loving monarch.

"Who…who…are…y…"

I felt the power of my voice disappear alongside my consciousness. And moments before it disappeared, I saw the princess that held me shed her disguise, but could see nothing more than darkness before my view was consumed by it, either by her body, her actions, or her perky laughter.


End file.
